


Salem's Lot

by kissedbydragonfire



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst, Biting, F/M, Fluff, Flufus - Freeform, Intrigue, MurderVision, Mutual Pining, Mystery, Sex, Spells & Enchantments, Strangers to Lovers, Witches, garcy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:08:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 76,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23271496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kissedbydragonfire/pseuds/kissedbydragonfire
Summary: AU where Lucy is a vampire living in Salem, MA.  She's peacefully coexisting with witches, when a mysterious stranger shows up one night and changes her world forever.
Relationships: Garcia Flynn/Lucy Preston, Rufus Carlin/Jiya Marri
Comments: 177
Kudos: 75





	1. Something Wicked This Way Comes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Celtrose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Celtrose/gifts).



> This first chapter was originally published as Chapter 3 of my Garcy Smut Prompts, but I decided to add to it, so it is now its own stand-alone fic. I usually plan out my stories, but this one seems to have a life of its own. In other words, I have no clue where this will end up and tags may change.
> 
> Based off the Tumblr prompt for Garcy supernatural AU, strangers to lovers, suck on THAT from celtrose-ish and the fact Goran was cast as Dracula which made my brain want to write more of this.

Being a vampire in Salem has never been easy for Lucy. Witches surround her twenty-four seven, which means she sticks out like a sore thumb. She’s made a few friends over the years, but most of the residents only tolerate her presence, never welcome it. Yet, she stays. Deep down she’s always felt a sense of belonging here; that there’s a reason she was drawn here in the first place.

She bought a bar, since the hours were perfect. It also limits her interactions with the nervous Nellies of the town, as well. You know, the ones who will _never_ believe she’s not a threat. She has her regular customers, local stragglers and the odd truck driver, but never another supernatural creature other than the resident witches.

Tonight seems no different to her, until the door opens and another vampire struts in. She knew it the moment he opened the door and their eyes met. Normally, she would chase off any unwanted creature, but this one-this one felt _different_. Plus, he was much larger and older than she was. She wouldn’t be able to physically take him down. 

He most certainly did not _look_ different, though. No, this man was your stereotypical bad-boy vampire, or just your run-of-the-mill bad-boy period. He’s clad in all black, down to the black leather jacket; aka the vampire uniform. (She _really_ can’t say much about that, though. She practically lives in the color herself).

His hair is dark and long, his profile sharp and his jaw set. She’s honestly surprised there’s not a neon sign spelling out trouble above his head. She eyes him warily, as he takes a seat at the bar. He keeps his head down, so she can’t view his eyes.

It’s close to closing time and her only other customers are the two local barflies, Connor and Earnest. As annoying as they can be, she doesn’t want either of them to turn into a midnight snack for this guy. Plus, it will probably make things untenable for her around here.

He orders a scotch, but doesn’t make eye contact with her when he orders. She pours and serves his drink and is about to give him a friendly warning that this is _her_ turf, when Earnest slips off the barstool and crashes to the floor.

“I’m good, Lucy. I’m good,” Earnest slurs, as he attempts to stand back up.

“Yeah, yeah. Time to call it a night, Ernie,” she laughs, as she helps him up from the floor with a jerk.

Connor snorts, as Ernie argues with her.

“It’s time to go for you too,” she states, as she turns towards Connor.

“Ah, come on, Lucy. One more drink?” Connor asks pleadingly with his best puppy dog eyes.

“Nice try. The booze will still be here tomorrow. I promise,” she answers, as she crosses her heart with her finger.

“Really?” Connor huffs, as he rolls his eyes. “Crossing your heart and hoping to die? Isn’t that a tad bit hypocritical?” he hiccups.

If the stranger didn’t know she was a vampire when he walked in, he sure as hell does now.

“If I had a heart, Connor, I would have stopped serving you years ago. You drink too much,” Lucy teases.

What Connor doesn’t understand is that she _does_ have a heart. It just doesn’t function like human hearts do. She still feels emotion, though it’s been ages since she’s felt any connection or attraction to another creature or human. 

She walks Connor towards the front door, but he stops right before they get there.

“You gonna be alright, Lucy?” Connor questions, as he glances over towards the mysterious stranger.

“I’m not looking for trouble,” the stranger states with a booming voice.

In the world of humans, eavesdropping is considered rude, but Lucy can’t blame the stranger for this one. Vampire hearing is much more advanced than humans. Even if Connor had been whispering, the stranger would’ve heard them.

Lucy ushers Connor and Earnest out the door, then spins back to the stranger sitting at the bar. She watches him intently as he sips his scotch in peace and she returns to her post behind the bar. It’s a smaller space back there, which helps her if he attacks. It’s not easy for a larger person to maneuver back there.

“You better not be looking for a meal here. These people are off limits,” Lucy declares, as she bares her fangs ever so slightly.

“I didn’t know this was your turf. I expected Salem to be free of our kind,” he utters with a gravelly voice.

“So, you have a death wish, then? There’s no other reason a strange vampire would go to a town full of witches,” she declares.

“I came to pay my respects to an old friend.”

Their eyes meet and she can see there’s sincerity behind his statement. 

“Here,” she states, as she slides another glass down the bar towards him, “suck on _that_.”

It’s a trick she’s picked up over the centuries. Even if vampires can’t get drunk, it doesn’t mean they can’t taste the difference between the good stuff and the mediocre. She just gave a stranger her best scotch and she hopes she can also get some answers about why he’s here.

She can also see how smoking hot this guy is. For a moment, she swears her heart skips a beat, but then she remembers her heart’s been dead for centuries. But, there’s definitely something about him. 

She grabs the bottle of scotch from behind the bar, along with another glass. She can’t explain it, but she feels the need to get a better look at him; preferably up close. 

He sips from the glass she just poured him.

“Better,” he murmurs.

“Just better?” she teases.

She leaves the safety of the back of the bar and slowly inches towards him, dragging the scotch bottle along the bar, the second glass balancing precariously between two fingers.

He glances over at her, a smile tugging at his lips. She takes the stool next to his and pours another round for him, then some for herself.

“Seems like a pretty risky venture for an old friend,” Lucy surmises, as she sips her scotch slowly.

“She’s worth the risk. Saved my life once. I had planned to just slip in and slip out without anyone the wiser,” he advises.

“So, why come in here and risk it?” she questions.

“Honestly, I’m not sure. I had this compulsion to stop in and have a drink; of the human kind, of course,” he quickly clarifies.

“Of course,” she echoes mockingly.

“I knew you were a vampire the second I opened the door. Normally, I would’ve walked right back out. But for some reason…”

“Why didn’t you?” she asks honestly.

“The compulsion I told you about? It got even stronger once I came in.”

She downs her drink, but doesn’t break eye contact as she does. Maybe she’s hallucinating, or maybe the whole myth of creature pheromones isn’t that much of a myth at all, because she has had a compulsion to get closer to him since he walked through the door. She can feel her body temperature rising, which is again, not vampirically possible. 

He’s staring at her now, his eyes searching hers for something. Suddenly, he breaks away from her gaze and refills their glasses.

“Have-have we ever met before?” he asks hesitantly.

She knows _damn_ _well_ that she doesn’t know him. First of all, she has an excellent memory, and second of all, she would _not_ forget someone who was _that_ good-looking. 

“Nope. That accent of yours is foreign to my ears,” she states with a smile, as she retracts her fangs.

She knows nothing about this guy, not even his name, but she wants to get even closer still. _What is wrong with you, Lucy?_

They stare at each other again for a few beats, then launch themselves at each other, but not in battle. Their lips meet and they kiss fast and furiously, as if their immortal lives depend on it. His hand is in her hair, as their tongues explore the other’s mouth. They don’t need to breathe, so neither of them stop. The sensation is indescribable. It has the same euphoria as a feed, but without the blood lust. Instead, the lust seems to be targeting other parts of her body.

Yet, there is a lingering sense of connection between them that makes just kissing intimate and intense. She’s been alive for five hundred years and she’s never felt this way about anyone, creature or human. 

He abruptly stands up from the stool, grabs her thighs, and lifts her onto the bar. 

“Wait! I don’t even know your name,” she whispers, as he trails kisses down her neck.

“Flynn. Garcia Flynn,” he answers before kissing her lips hard.

“Lucy,” she answers breathily.

“You have a last name, Lucy?” he questions, as his hands slip under her shirt.

“Does it really matter?” she asks, as she nips his lip with her fang.

She’s drawn a little bit of blood, but it doesn’t interest her like it normally would. She can only concentrate on his lips, imaging what they would feel like mapping out her body.

“It does to me,” he whispers in her ear. “I’ve never felt this in three thousand years.”

“Neither have I.”

He picks her up again and she wraps her legs around him. He carries her to the pool table, lays her on top, and shrugs his jacket off. She tears his t-shirt in two, baring his muscular chest in all its glory. He strips her down to her bra and panties, then fumbles with his belt before breaking it. He pulls her down towards the edge of the pool table, then begins kissing her inner thigh. His fangs break her sensitive skin, but she doesn’t care, as his tongue and lips smooth over the tiny droplets of blood.

“You taste-mmm…like honey,” he mumbles, as his teeth tear her underwear.

Normally, Lucy wouldn’t be such a passive lover, but her entire body, including her brain, feels like it’s currently a raging inferno. She’s not thinking clearly, yet he seems content to shower her with affection at the moment, so she’s not going to complain one iota.

He kisses and playfully bites his way up her body. Just like before, his bites break her skin, but he doesn’t actively feed from her. It’s not unusual for vampires to engage in foreplay such as this, but for some reason it feels _different_ this time.

She has never done anything like this, but it winds up being the best sex of her very long life. Every touch, every kiss, every thrust vibrates through her body, sending shockwaves of ecstasy pulsing within her. It’s rough, then slow, then sweet, then possessive. The gamut of emotions surging within her is new and exciting and she reacts instinctively by raking her nails down his back. This, in turn, elicits a moan and guttural growl from him and the tender turns tumultuous. He’s kissing and touching her as if he’s been doing it all his life, hitting every sweet spot with precise perfection. 

As they both edge towards climax, they clamp down on each other’s jugulars and drink their full. It’s one of the most intimate things vampires can do to show their devotion to a partner. It heightens the effects of the orgasm and the feed exponentially, which is why it’s usually only done when vampires are in a committed relationship. The only thing more intimate would be feeding directly from the heart, which is exclusively reserved for the married and mated-for-life among them. They are virtual strangers, however, and neither of them should have gone there without the other’s expressed permission. Lucy can’t speak to his motivation, but she couldn’t stop herself from tasting him. And, she’s so glad she did. She’s never tasted anything quite like it. Like wine, vampire blood has a distinctive taste that can tell you a great deal about an individual. At first, the taste is bitter and harsh and metallic in nature. But, as she sucks in some more, she finds Garcia’s blood has a plethora of flavors that wash upon her tongue in layers. She can taste notes of the old world with their sweet grapes and olives, but also a smoky musk.

Vampires can’t get drunk on alcohol, but they can get a little buzz from vampire blood. When she glances back up at him, he appears to be feeling some sort of effect from her blood.

“How-how do you taste _so_ good? It’s like honey and sugar and-and….strawberries!” he gasps, as he brings his hand to his lips.

She has no idea, because no one’s ever told her that. The last vampire she dated for a while, Noah, told her she tasted basically like Diet Coke; a little bit sweet with a funky aftertaste. The last human she dated, Wyatt, told her she smelled like a musty basement and suggested she shouldn’t spend so much time in the library.

“I don’t know. No one’s ever told me that,” she answers bashfully.

He has the same glassy-eyed look of a drunk, yet he does not seem to be confused, but rather reverent. He just stares at her speechless. 

“Are you alright?” she questions.

He stumbles towards her, then takes her into his arms. His hand gently caresses her cheek, as he leans down and kisses her softly.

“If I’m not, I don’t really care right now,” he whispers with a desperate air.

“We can take this upstairs to my place, if you want,” she informs him.

“Only if I can suck on _that_ ,” he teases, as he drags his fangs down her neck.

She shivers with anticipation in response.

“That depends. Have you figured out my last name yet?” she questions with a devilish smile.

He scans the room, honing his vision for clues. 

“Since you live upstairs, I’m guessing you own the place. It’s Preston’s Pub, so…”

“Winner winner, jugular dinner!” she laughs.

“Lucy Preston, are you sure you’re not a witch? Because you’ve definitely put a spell on me.”

“You learn a few things when you live in Salem,” she replies with a wink, as she grabs the bottle of scotch from the top of the bar.

She bends down slowly to pick up her scattered clothes and glances back over her shoulder.

“You coming?” she questions, as she ascends the stairs.

“Not at this exact moment, but I hope to be shortly,” he states with a wink.

He smirks back at her, grabs his own discarded clothing and chases her up the stairs. _Looks like life in Salem just got a hell of a lot more interesting._


	2. New Heights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flynn sets out to meet the friend he came to Salem for, but struggles to leave the woman he spent the night with.

The second he wakes up the next day, he knows he’s in trouble. Vampires don’t need sleep like regular humans do, but they do need to rest and recharge periodically, especially after exerting themselves for an extended period of time. If there’s one descriptor of his activities last night, exertion could definitely fit the bill. Never in his three thousand years on this planet has he had a night like that. 

Tasting Lucy might be the dumbest thing he’s ever done, because now he can’t stop. The compulsion that made him patronize her bar last night is turning into a full-blown, raging addiction. It’s not just the out-of-this world sex either. He feels a genuine connection to her, even though they just met. He joked with her last night about putting a spell on him, but now he’s not so sure that isn’t the case. _Maybe, someone else put a spell on him._ Before he does something stupid, he needs to make sure this isn’t some supernatural honey-trap.

He glances over at Lucy, her head resting comfortably on his bare chest. He doesn’t want to leave her, but he did come to Salem for another reason altogether and he needs to see that through. It might also provide some clarity with his Lucy dilemma as well.

He’s still a teeny bit tipsy from gorging on her blood for most of the night into the early morning hours, so his plan to extricate himself from her body isn’t being implemented very stealthily. He manages to remove her arm from his waist, but gets his foot caught in the sheets as he tries to slide over and falls onto the floor. Lucy bolts upright and glances around, rubs her eyes and then lays back down.

After he gets over his embarrassment, he stands back up to find she’s already fallen back asleep. He would like nothing more than to lay here all day with her, but he needs to feed. He can’t survive on her blood alone.

He quickly throws his clothes on from yesterday, except for the t-shirt Lucy shredded, then peers out her apartment window. He doubts the people of Salem would appreciate him walking around shirtless for the remainder of the day. He does have a change of clothes in his car, though. He can easily dig out another t-shirt, but he’s going to have to make a run for it in just his leather jacket.

Lucy’s windows are heavily tinted to allow her to move about in daylight, but he can see out of them. Rain pounds down from the heavens, beading against the windowsill. Contrary to popular belief and folklore, vampires will not spontaneously combust if sunlight hits their body. Prolonged exposure to the sun can and will kill them, but short trips into the daylight will only cause a sunburn for the most part. With his Mediterranean coloring, the most that’s ever happened to him was a deep tan. Lucy, on the other hand, with that porcelain skin of hers, would probably look like a lobster. 

He would love nothing more than to take a shower, but he doesn’t want to just hop into Lucy’s uninvited. Plus, the running water would most _definitely_ wake her up and if she decides to join him in said shower, he’ll never be able to get out of here.

He doesn’t want to leave, but he needs answers before he decides what he’s going to do. He won’t be able to get those answers unless he goes to see his friend. He glances back at Lucy right before he quietly shuts her door. If nothing else, they’ll always have last night.

He’s soaking wet by the time he reaches his car. He pops the trunk, grabs his suitcase, then shuts it again. He throws his suitcase into the passenger seat, then climbs in. Again, he doesn’t want to run the risk of Lucy coming out to stop him, so he quietly creeps down the driveway and turns onto the street. He goes a few blocks, then turns down a side street and pulls over. He opens his suitcase and rummages through for a t-shirt he can wear. He finds one of the many, plain, black ones in his bag, then shrugs his jacket off. He pulls the t-shirt over his head and then puts the jacket back on.

As he drives through Salem, he gets the distinct feeling that someone is watching or following him. He performs a few evasive maneuvers with his car, as he checks the rear-view mirror. If he had a tail, he definitely lost them by now.

He still has an eerie feeling as he drives towards his destination. Perhaps it’s just the number of witches living in Salem that gives it such a creepy vibe, or its beyond-checkered past. Maybe, he’s just being paranoid.

He drives by the house twice before he finally parks down the street. It’s dusk by now, so it’s safe for him to stroll around without the fear his skin will turn into tanned leather. Still, he decides to wait until darkness blankets the land.

It’s not just the weird feeling he’s had since he left Lucy’s. He knows for a _fact_ that this neighborhood is crawling with witches. After all, the friend he’s come to see _is_ one. Additionally, waiting until dark gives his friend a certain amount of plausible deniability that they wouldn’t have if he strolled up to the front door. 

As he sits and waits, his thoughts drift back to last night once again. When they went upstairs, Lucy barely got her apartment door shut before he was on her. He shoved her up against the door, grabbed the back of her neck hard, then leaned in and paused an inch above her lips.

“I’m gonna take you to new heights of ecstasy, Lucy,” he whispered before he kissed her slowly.

Initially, they both took their time this go-around; him especially. He wanted to savor the moment and he wanted to drench himself with this new-found, deep-rooted connection. Lucy, though…she had other ideas. 

For such a tiny woman, she was _very_ strong and not just because she was a vampire. At one point, he tried to slow things down a bit, but she pushed him down onto the bed and clamped down onto his arms, pinning him to the mattress. As she licked up his chest, she drug her fangs along his skin. Not once in three thousand years had he allowed another vampire to drink from his jugular; _not once_ , until he met Lucy. The jugular was special in his mind, reserved only for those supernatural beings that shared a special bond. He did allow another vampire to feed from his wrist once. It did nothing for him, so he just never bothered again. When Lucy bites him though, he feels as if he’s floating on a cloud. She could drain him dry and he’d never complain.

After he allowed her to take control for a little while, he suddenly flipped her over and performed a bit of fang-raking himself. He basically mimicked what Lucy just did to him, but it felt even better to watch her writhe in pleasure beneath him.

The coup de grâce came when he decided to fuck her from behind, so he’d have better access to her jugular. He knows he should’ve asked her first, but since they’d already gone there, he felt he had permission. As she neared climax, he chomped down and bathed his tongue and mouth in her honeysweet sugar. To his shock, she grabbed his wrist and chomped down as well, sucking and lapping like a cat from a saucer. Intense electrical pulses coursed through his veins, which caused him to spill almost immediately. He let go of her neck and fell backwards onto the mattress a second before she did the same. His wrist was still in Lucy’s hand and she draped it over her while they basked in the afterglow. It was in that moment he knew he was doomed. The realization struck him like a bolt of lightning. He was either falling, or had already fallen, in love with her. It’s the most ridiculous thing he’s ever thought, because he’s known her for a total of like twelve hours now. _How can he fall for someone so quickly?_

The remainder of the night proceeded in much the same fashion, and each time they had sex, he fell deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole. He hoped and prayed that Lucy felt the same way, but it’s not as if they discussed the matter mid-coitus. 

As much as he’s developed feelings for her, the possibility that he _is_ under a spell still looms large. Perhaps one of the witches of Salem wants Lucy to leave town and thought this was the best way to accomplish this task. Perhaps one of his many enemies wants him to be vulnerable. If one of them came into this apartment right now, he’s not sure he’d have the strength and wherewithal to defend himself. Lucy’s blood is making him giddy and the physical exertion of the night’s activities have spent his reserves. He needs to feed soon, but he doesn’t want to incur Lucy’s wrath by feeding on one of the locals. His best bet at this point is to pay a quick visit to his friend, then get out of dodge so he can feed as soon as possible.

After his little trip down memory lane, he glances back up and notices the streets are now dark enough for him to approach the house. He’s just about to open the door, when he spies a young woman with blonde hair walking towards his vehicle. Everything about her screams witch. It’s not like they have some sort of invisible tattoo on their foreheads or something, or one particular way of dressing or looking. He’s known enough of them over the centuries that he’s become good at picking them out of the crowd. The woman is holding a leash in her hand with a small Yorkie on the other end. 

She stops at one of the trees lining the curb a few feet from him (more the Yorkie stopping to do his business), when she glances up and spots him sitting in his car. Even if she wasn’t a witch, the sight of some strange, large man sitting in his car must be unsettling. 

He leans up against the steering wheel and reaches into his back pocket. He pulls out his badge and flashes it to her through the windshield. The woman yanks on the dog’s leash, practically dragging him back the way she came. She disappears around the corner a moment later.

He exits the vehicle, shuts the door and strolls down the sidewalk towards the house. He’s three houses away when he falls to his knees. Pain is shooting up his legs as if he’s barefoot and stepping on a porcupine. The woman and her dog pop back around the corner, her eyes glowing yellow as she glares at him.

“You shouldn’t be here!” her voice booms.

The Yorkie is barking like crazy and if he doesn’t stop, he’ll alert the entire neighborhood to his presence. It takes every ounce of energy he has to lift his head and meet her eyes. He can feel the electricity stabbing his body, but he also notices it’s losing some of its bite. He knows she won’t be able to keep this spell up for long. He’s too old and powerful, even in his weakened state. Plus, this woman is _not_ a witch. Witches don’t have glowing yellow eyes.

“Neither should you!” he growls back as he bares his fangs.

The Yorkie stops its incessant yapping and tilts its head in confusion, as he fights to get to his feet.

“I didn’t do it!” she yells.

“What?”

“You’re-you’re not here to kill me?” she questions with confusion.

“Should I be?” he growls.

The woman backs up two steps, then drops the leash out of her hand. The next thing he knows, her face and limbs contort and twist into an amorphous shape. He can hear the bone and sinew snapping. An instant later, the Yorkie is no longer alone. A yellow lab now stands next to it, growling at him. He hisses back and the dogs take off running down the block, the Yorkie’s leash trailing behind him. _Fucking shapeshifters._

He brushes himself off, as he stands up completely straight. Front porch lights begin to go on a few houses over, so he uses that supersonic vampire speed and darts to the house. He jumps over the fence and edges along the side of the house towards the backyard. He hides in the shadows as he glances around nervously. He waits for a few minutes, listening intently for anyone coming his way. When he hears nothing, he skulks along the side of the house, actively searching for a way inside. He probably should have called first, but…

He finds the back door unlocked, so he slips inside. _Here goes nothing._


	3. The Blood of Witches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jiya has a vision and a visitor.

Jiya is in her basement in the middle of performing a spell, when she feels the vision coming on. She quickly sets the mortar and pestle onto the table before her eyes roll back into her head. A kaleidoscope of images flash through her brain, as she struggles to make sense of what she’s seeing. As fast as the vision came on, it’s gone twice as fast.

The next thing she knows, she hears someone yelling her name. As she slowly comes to, she can feel someone cradling the back of her neck. She hasn’t had a vision is a while, so it takes her a few extra minutes to obtain her bearings. 

As the blurriness subsides, she spies Flynn hovering over her, as she lays on her living room floor. _Is the vision still going on? If not, what the hell is Garcia Flynn doing here?_

None of this is making any sense. He helps her sit up, as she rubs the back of her head.

“Jiya! Jiya, are you alright?”

“Fl-Flynn? What are you doing here?”

He pulls her to her feet and gently guides her to a chair in the corner.

“I came to visit and found you lying on the floor unresponsive,” he explains.

She’s still reeling from her vision and her brain is grappling with the flood of images, as well as the image of her vampire friend standing in her own home. She needs to collect her thoughts, especially as it pertains to her vision, before she loses it altogether. 

“Can you hand me that note pad and pen over there?” Jiya requests, as she tilts her head towards the table.

Flynn furrows his brow and hesitates, but stands a moment later and grabs the pen and paper from the table. He hands it to her and she holds up a finger indicating he should wait before speaking any further. She scribbles furiously, trying to recall as much of her vision as she can. The faces of the people in her vision were obscured and blurry for the most part, but she did manage to recognize one of them: Lucy. Lucy is the second vampire friend she’s ever had in her entire life, but they’ve become quite close over the past year. Next to Flynn, Lucy’s the only vampire that she’s ever felt comfortable inviting into her home. She’ll need to collect her thoughts to figure out what the vision is trying to tell her, but that can wait a few minutes. She needs to find out what the hell Flynn is doing here first.

“What on earth are you doing here? It’s dangerous for you. You should’ve called me. I could have met you in Marblehead or Clifton.”

“I heard about your father’s passing. I’m sorry I couldn’t get here for his funeral. I was hunkering down in Alaska for a while,” Flynn explains.

Jiya bursts out into laughter.

“I can’t imagine you hanging out with the lumberjacks for the life of me.”

He chuckles in return and nods his head.

“I didn’t go there to hang out with people. I went there to get away from humans…and other things.”

His mention of “other things” causes her to pause and begin to worry.

“Did-did anyone see you come here?” she asks in a panic.

“Uh, here as in your house, or here as in Salem?”

“Both.”

“Well, I had a rather unpleasant run in with a shapeshifter as I approached the house, but I chased her off, so I don’t think anyone saw me come in here,” he answers.

Jiya can tell there’s something else he’s not mentioning.

“A shapeshifter? Here? In Salem?”

“I thought it was weird too. Initially, I thought she was a witch when she attacked me, but unless witches can turn into dogs now…”

“What about my other question? Does anyone else know that you’re in Salem?” Jiya asks again.

She can see the hesitation in him once again. Flynn has always been honest with her. It’s one of the reasons she trusts him.

“Um, I’m pretty sure a couple of people saw me when I stopped at the bar last night, but the two of them were three sheets to the wind. I’m not sure they _knew_ I was a vampire,” he replies.

“And? There’s something you’re not saying, Flynn. What is it?” she demands.

He stands up and starts pacing around her basement, as he runs his hand through his hair.

“There was someone else that I interacted with. Besides paying my respects about your father, I was hoping to talk to you about it and figure out what’s going on,” he advises.

He takes another step towards her, then almost falls before steadying himself. 

“When’s the last time you fed? You look ultra-pale, even for an undead creature,” Jiya questions with concern.

“It’s been a while. I was gonna leave and find something after I visited you,” he answers before stumbling once again.

Jiya stands up quickly, too quickly, and almost loses her own balance, before practically lunging herself at him. She grabs him around the waist, just as his legs begin to give out from beneath him. She’d never be able to hold him up on her own, even if he were human. The man is just too large for her small frame. She does her best to cradle him into her, as they both slump to the cold, dirty floor.

“Damn it, Flynn! How many times do I have to save your life? You’d think a three-thousand year-old individual would learn how to take better care of themselves!” Jiya chides.

“Why bother, when I have friends like you?” he sasses, as his eyes roll back into his head.

“I’m your only damn friend, you idiot!”

Jiya rolls up the sleeve of her right arm and shoves her wrist into his mouth.

“Go ahead. I don’t need to deal with a dead vampire in my house, thank you very much.”

His teeth sink into her flesh as light as a pinprick. He gazes up at her as he begins to feed and she can see the relief wash over his face. She knows because she’s seen that look before. She trusts him to feed from her, she wouldn’t do it otherwise, but both of them are readily aware that if he tries to take too much, she’ll fling him across the room with the quirk of an eyebrow. Her magic is old, tied to the cradle of civilization and her Lebanese roots. But, she is still human and humans are prone to get themselves into sticky situations at times.

One of those sticky situations was how she came to be acquainted with the vampire currently lying in her lap sucking on her wrist. She was in Budapest on vacation, walking back to her hotel, when a group of men started following her. By the time she noticed they were following her and not just walking the same way she was, she was cornered down a dead-end street. She’s not a shrinking violet and is quite capable of defending herself better than the average “non-witch” woman, but there was no way she could possibly fend of four offenders. She had put her hands up ready to defend herself, when a flash blew by her. The next thing she knew, four dead skinheads were lying at her feet and one, tree-sized vampire was standing before her wiping the blood from his mouth. She still remembers to this day what his response was when she asked him why he saved her.

“Because I hate Nazis more than I hate witches.”

She glances down at him again and is suddenly struck with just how vulnerable he currently is. It’s definitely strange having such a large man lying in her lap, as she feeds him like a baby. He maintains his gentleness with her, which she appreciates. She brushes a few errant strands of hair from his forehead, which elicits a deep breath from him. He closes his eyes as he continues to feed. After a few minutes, he finishes his feed and closes her wound with his tongue. He looks about a thousand times better than he did when he arrived. He sits up slowly, but Jiya grabs his hand, closes her eyes and concentrates hard.

“What are you doing?” he asks.

“Shh. I’m figuring out what you’re not telling me.”

Giving him her blood served more than one purpose. Sure, it provided nourishment for him, but it also allows access to his head. Her magic is now literally coursing through his body. Images appear one right after the other, like pearls on a string. She sees his encounter with the mysterious shapeshifter, whom she recognizes as Jessica Logan. _You learn something new every day_. 

Then she sees him running to his car in the rain and him getting dressed in the morning in a half-intoxicated state. His mind must be drifting, because the images aren’t as coherent and chronological as the prior ones. She takes it all in for a few minutes longer, then abruptly releases his hand. She opens her eyes and glances over at him suddenly.

“You had sex this morning… _and_ last night!”

“Get out of my head, Jiya! Am I under a spell or what?” he grumbles.

“Not from a witch,” she teases.

“Damn it, Jiya! I’m being serious,” he complains.

“Holy smokes! You had sex with Lucy!” Jiya exclaims.

“Wait, you know her?”

“Are you seriously asking me if I am aware of the only vampire living in Salem?” she asks with incredulity, as she pushes him away from her and stands up.

She brushes the dirt off of her pants, then rubs her eyes.

“I really, _really_ did _not_ need to see my best friend sprawled naked on a pool table, thank you,” she whines.

A smug smile appears on his face. Jiya can’t believe what is happening right now. _What are the chances that the only two vampires she’s friends with meet and hook up?_ She was ready to scold him that he better not have broken Lucy’s undead heart, when he interrupts her with a thousand questions. He wants to know what Lucy’s like, how long they’ve been friends and what kind of music she’s into.

“She’s-she’s not seeing anybody, is she?” he asks shyly.

She shoots him her best “ _really?_ ” look.

“You slept with her and you honestly don’t know the answer to that?”

She turns abruptly, then stomps up the basement stairs to her kitchen. Flynn is behind her in two seconds flat. She goes to the fridge and grabs a beer. She needs a drink before this conversation goes any further. She can’t handle this any longer without some alcohol. 

“Jiya, I can’t stop thinking about her. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before,” he confesses.

She’s never seen him act like this before, but she has seen this behavior in other men. _He’s in love._

“Leave it to you to have never experienced love in three thousand years,” she jokes before taking a sip of her beer.

“Is it love? Can you fall in love with someone with just one look from them? Is that humanly possible? Is it supernaturally possible?”

He’s rambling now, which is exactly how Jiya knows it’s love. 

“I don’t know the answer, but what I can tell you is that it’s theoretically possible,” she replies with a sly smirk.

Now it’s his turn to give her the “ _really?”_ look. 

They stand there in silence for a minute.

“Do-do you think Lucy feels the same way?” he asks sheepishly.

“Considering you left her high and dry without a word today, who knows?”

She didn’t mean to crush his spirits, but she wants to be honest with him. After all, he’s always been honest with her. So, she decides to change the subject and inquire about his other issue.

“Why did you think you were under a spell, though? Lucy’s not a witch.” Jiya questions.

She listens as he explains how he’s had an eerie feeling lately as if someone is watching or hunting him. He’s made his fair share of enemies over the centuries, but he’s not sure if any of them would go to these lengths to come after him. He elaborates by saying he was hoping she could use her visions and/or witchcraft to help him figure it out. 

“My visions don’t work like that. Today was the first time I had one in a while. It’s not on demand,” she explains.

His face sinks in disappointment. 

“As for a spell, there may be one that I know, but-”

“But what?” he asks, as his face turns hopeful.

“I need another witch to perform it.”

“This town is full of them. Surely, you know someone,” he suggests.

“Of course I know other witches. Do I know other witches who would be willing to help a vampire? Not really.”

Flynn huffs loudly and lowers his head. 

“Unless…”

“Unless?”

“I may know someone, but fair warning, you’re not going to like each other and it’s going to come at a price,” Jiya advises.

“I need to know. Money’s no object,” he answers.

“Who said anything about money?” Jiya chuckles. “I said a price, Flynn.”

She’s going against her better judgment in doing this, but he’s being persistent. _Here goes nothing_.


	4. Hellhounds and Yorkies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy’s hopes are quickly dashed and she struggles to get through her day. Plus, a mysterious occurrence leaves Lucy on edge.

Lucy pretends to be asleep still after she’s awoken by a loud crash. She’s internally laughing so hard at Flynn falling out of her bed, she wants to burst into tears. She thinks better of it and bites down on her lip to contain herself. _Here, she thought she was the clumsy one._

She peeks through her mostly-shut eyes as he dresses, admiring the muscular specimen that managed to make her feel as if she was living in a dream world last night. It’s completely insane how deep her connection is to him already, and she honestly knows nothing about Garcia Flynn besides the fact that he’s _very_ gifted between the sheets.

What she didn’t know, is what he would do next. Would he stick around or would he split never to be seen or heard from again? She hopes he chooses the former and not the latter, but to her disappointment, he leaves. At first she hopes he’s just going to his car to get a change of clothes, but when she hears the engine start, her hopes dash right out the window.

She shouldn’t be this disappointed, she really shouldn’t. She had a wonderful one-night stand and that’s that. The connection she thought she felt either wasn’t as strong as she hoped, or it was completely one-sided. _Figures._ She’s never really had luck with men, so why should that change now?

She stretches her aching body as she gets out of bed. She peers out the window and confirms that Flynn’s car is indeed gone. She strolls back over to the kitchen, opens the fridge and grabs a bag of O Negative. She opens the bag and downs it like she’s chugging beer at a frat party. Last night definitely took its toll on her, so she’s thankful she has the blood supply on hand. 

Once she’s done, she wipes the blood from her mouth, then heads to get a shower. She half-hopes that when she gets out of the shower, Garcia Flynn will be standing in her apartment, or better yet, he’ll show back up and join her in here. She’s acting like a teenager who can’t let go of her crush on the older boy and it’s utterly ridiculous. She’s a grown woman who had fantastic sex last night with a total stranger. No biggie. It’s not like she can get pregnant or contract some sort of disease, so there’s really no harm done; except the harm to her heart.

She steps out of the shower, dries off, then slips on a pair of jeans and a lilac-colored tank top. She glides on a pair of black boots, grabs her keys, then shuts the door behind her. 

She descends the stairs down to the bar area and quickly glances around the room. There’s still no sign of Garcia Flynn. A group of construction workers gather around the bar toasting the end of their work day, but otherwise, the place is quiet.

Her daytime bartender, Jessica, is taking care of the construction crew. She sidles up alongside her, completely ignoring the leers of the men at the bar.

“Good evening, Jess.”

“Hey, Lucy. Looks like someone had a good day,” Jess teases, as she pokes her with her elbow.

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” she answers nonchalantly.

Jess raises an eyebrow in disbelief, as she wipes down the bar with her rag.

“I wish it would stop raining,” Jess complains. “It’s such a pain in the ass to walk Winchester in it.”

“They have dog umbrellas, you know,” Lucy advises as she walks towards the kitchen. “And raincoats!”

She hears Jess laugh as the kitchen door shuts.

“What’s the special tonight, Rufus?”

Rufus, her cook who could literally be a chef in any restaurant of his choosing, always informs her what the night’s special is. He usually does this before the rush gets started, so that she can write it on her chalkboard.

“Oh, hey, Lucy. Tonight we feature lobster bisque soup, crab cakes and shrimp scampi,” Rufus answers.

“Alright, I’ll change the chalkboard right now.”

Lucy goes about her prep work after writing the night’s specials on the board. She makes sure the bar is stocked and the tables are clean. There’s not much left to do except go over last nights' receipts, so she leaves the front of the bar, shuffles past the kitchen and to her office. 

As soon as she enters, she knows that someone has been in here. Some of her papers are strewn about on her desk and the filing cabinet is open. It’s not exactly rifled through, but she can tell it’s been disturbed. It doesn’t appear that anything has been taken, but the intrusion into her personal space is still cause for concern.

She exits the office and strides back into the kitchen of the pub.

“Hey, Rufus, was anyone in my office today?”

“I don’t think so, why?”

“Things are just out of place. Or…I could just be losing it,” she laughs.

Rufus frowns back at her, as he stirs his pot of lobster bisque.

“I doubt that. You’re one of the more put-together people I’ve ever known. If you’re losing it, we’re all doomed,” he chuckles.

Lucy plays it off, but inside she’s dying. She prides herself that she comes across that way, but the truth is so far from it. _If Rufus only knew how wrong he was._ She blames her mother for most of it. She controlled every aspect of Lucy’s life for the longest time. When her mother started pushing her and Noah to get married though, Lucy bolted. Amy, her sister, encouraged her to go out and experience the world and figure out what she wanted, not what her mother wanted. 

Lucy still has guilt about listening to Amy. She broke things off with Noah, got on a plane with nothing more than her passport and went to Paris. Paris turned into an entire European tour, which then led to going on safari in Africa and another tour of Asia. Even to this day, she has never felt freedom like she had running with the cheetahs in the Serengeti. 

If she hadn’t listened to Amy, she would’ve been there when her sister went missing. She could’ve potentially even prevented it if she wasn’t gallivanting about the French Riviera. She searched and searched for years, but could never find out what happened to her sister. The fact that her mother didn’t seem to give a crap was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Lucy renounced her family, her birthright and her mother’s legacy and disappeared never to be seen or heard from again. In fact, she’s only started to use her real name again recently; only after she came to Salem.

Lucy sneaks a taste of the bisque Rufus is finishing up.

“Hey!” he chides, as he smacks her hand away from the pot.

“It’s not like I can get the humans sick, Rufus.”

“You can’t taste a chef’s creation until the chef gives you the okay, Lucy. I thought we established that when you hired me?” Rufus jokes.

Lucy smirks widely and bares her fangs.

“I can taste whatever I want, when I want.”

She’s totally playing with him, but the sight of her fangs causes him to jump back slightly.

“Rufus! I’m sorry. I was just joking around,” Lucy apologizes, as she reaches her hand out to him.

“I know. It’s just-it’s just…”

“The fangs. Sorry,” Lucy replies as she retracts them.

Rufus turns back to stir the soup. She hesitates slightly before going back to the bar area. She doesn’t want to push it with Rufus. After all, he was the only one willing to even apply to cook here. All of the locals were probably afraid they would become part of the menu. She can’t afford to lose him if she still wants to be able to call this a pub and actually serve food.

When she steps back out front, she finds Jess taking a family of four’s orders at one of the booths. Two of the construction guys are playing pool, some are still at the bar and the rest have filtered out. She takes care of the guys at the bar, refilling the stale pretzels they seem to love so much and their pint glasses.

The dinner rush is trickling in and it’s a larger crowd than she’s anticipating. She’s never been more thankful for vampire speed in her life. Jess’ shift is almost over, and if she was a human, she’d never be able to serve all these people by herself. She still might need to call in a favor if they get even busier.

Every single time the door opens, she gets her hopes up for a split second that the man who stole her undead heart last night will walk back into her life. Even with every disappointment, she still hopes upon hope. _She’s being ridiculous. He’s long gone. If she was dumb enough to fall for his lines, she deserves the heartbreak._

Jess flies by her with the family of four’s plates of food and Lucy reaches out and stops her.

“Jess, were you in the office earlier today?”

“Yeah. I heard a noise back there when I opened up this morning. I thought that damn raccoon got in there. He got to our trashcans again,” Jess answers.

“Maybe I should get a dog?” Lucy ponders.

“Lucy, I thought you were trying to avoid vampire stereotypes?”

Lucy glances back at Jess in confusion.

“Now you want to get a hellhound? They’ll chase you out of town faster than you can say witch,” Jess laughs.

Lucy shakes her head and goes back to tending bar, while Jess delivers the food to the table. She feels a hell of a lot better knowing it was just Jess rummaging through the office in search for whatever noise she heard. Maybe she should call the exterminator just to make sure. 

Just then, the door opens and she foolishly glances up in anticipation, only to find disappointment once more.

“Good evening, my dear. Glad to see you’re still in one piece after last night,” Connor states, as he takes his normal barstool for the night.

“No, you’re not,” Lucy chuckles. “You’re just glad this place isn’t closed down because no one else will serve you.”

“Touché.”

“Looks like Ernest won’t get a head start tonight,” he teases.

“Connor, you know it’s not a competition, right?”

“Says you,” he replies with a smirk before taking a swig of his brew.

Jess helps Lucy out while the dinner rush is on, but once it dies down, she decides to call it a night.

“Thanks for staying, Jess.”

“No problem, Lucy. Winchester’s gonna need a long ass walk after this though. Maybe I’ll take him for a nice, long run up the nature trail,” Jess muses.

“In the pitch dark? That can’t be that safe, Jess.”

“We do it all the time. Plus, Winchester may be a Yorkie, but he gets vicious if you try to hurt his Mama,” Jess sing-songs back, as she strolls out the door.

_That girl is gonna get herself and her little dog killed._

As Jess leaves, her other resident barfly, Ernest, stammers in.

“Lucy, I’m home!” he yells loudly before taking a seat next to Connor.

Connor groans aloud before taking another gulp of his ale.

“Still not funny, Ernie,” she replies, as she places a beer on the bar in front of him.

“Where the bloody hell have you been?” Connor queries.

“Oh, you don’t know? They found a dead body along the nature trail. Looks like the poor fellow was attacked by some sort of animal. Got great pictures for the paper though,” Ernest states nonchalantly before chugging his beer.

Both Lucy and Connor stare at him as if he’s an alien from another planet. A man lost his life out there and Ernest acts as if it’s just another normal Friday here.

“What sort of animal?” Lucy questions with interest.

“Not sure, yet. I can let you know when I visit the coroner later.”

“Why would you visit the coroner?” Connor and Lucy ask in unison.

“Duh, for the newspaper story,” he responds with an air of annoyance.

Lucy has the distinct feeling that whatever attacked that man wasn’t an animal. She just hopes and prays that it wasn’t Flynn. _She should’ve chased him out of town the second she saw him last night._

“Ernie, can you let me know what the coroner says? After all, this place backs up to the woods, so…”

“Sure thing, Lucy!”

After a few more hours, Connor calls it a night and Ernest decides he’s paying the coroner a visit at two in the morning. There’s no use in convincing him otherwise, and quite frankly, she doesn’t care if he goes there or not, just as long as he’s not here.

Lucy locks the door behind them, then begins to collect the night’s trash. Rufus is cleaning up the kitchen, but he doesn’t have that much more to do. _He’s the most efficient person she’s ever seen._

“I can take that, Lucy,” Rufus offers, as she’s dragging the huge trash bag behind her.

“I got it. Just finish up in there and we’ll be done for the night.”

She pushes the back screen door open and lugs the bag towards her small dumpster. She opens the lid and jumps backwards as an animal lunges at her. She screams in surprise, then starts to laugh as the raccoon high tails it into the woods. 

“Lucy? You okay?” Rufus calls out from the kitchen.

“Yeah, just that stupid raccoon scaring the crap out of me,” she laughs.

She’s about to haul the bag into the dumpster, when she gets a whiff of something in the air. She recognizes it instantly. It’s a wolf. It’s not close enough for Lucy to differentiate the smell any further, but she’s positive that’s what it is. Then, she smells something else. It’s another familiar and distinct smell; a presence she hasn’t sensed since…

Suddenly, a hand clasps over her mouth and her abductor drags her off into the woods. She can see Rufus at the back door a moment later, calling her name over and over as he peers down at the trash bag lying on the ground. He glances around nervously, then panics and runs back inside. _Please be calling the cops. Please._


	5. The Secret of Flynn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flynn meets with Jiya’s witch friend as they try to figure out what’s affecting him.

When Flynn suggested Jiya call another witch to perform this spell, he was _not_ expecting a fellow law enforcement official to stroll through the door. He doesn’t even need to be told; he just knows.

“Jiya, what spell is so urgent that I had to drive all the way over here…”

The woman stops speaking as she spies him sitting on Jiya’s couch.

“What the _hell_ is a vampire doing sitting on your couch? Have you gone mad?” the woman snaps, as she pulls Jiya closer to her.

“Denise, this is Flynn. He’s harmless,” Jiya replies.

Denise gives her a _“the hell he is”_ look.

“Harmless to me, at least,” Jiya clarifies.

Flynn stands up from the couch and extends his hand to Denise.

“Garcia Flynn. Nice to meet you.”

“Denise Christopher,” she replies warily, as they shake hands. “You with the bureau?”

“U.S. Marshals,” he responds.

“They let vampires into the Marshall’s Service now?” she asks with incredulity.

“Can you think of a better agent for the fugitive task force? We don’t sleep, we’re faster and we can go longer than a human without having to eat.”

She nods her head in his direction, conceding the point he’s making.

“Why is he here?” Denise asks Jiya directly, completely ignoring his presence once again.

“He needs our help,” Jiya explains.

“Why the hell would I agree to help you, though?” Denise questions as she turns back to him.

“Because I’m no longer assigned to the fugitive task force. I’m in WITSEC now. I’ve relocated a lot of people, including witches and other creatures. I think someone is either watching me, or hunting me and I need to know if one of my charges are in danger. Is that enough of a reason for you?” he snaps.

He doesn’t mean to get testy with her, but time is of the essence here. If someone is trying to use him to get to one of his witnesses, he needs to notify the Marshal’s office immediately. If he’s just being paranoid, he’ll be out of their hair in a heartbeat. After all, there’s a gorgeous vampire who owns a bar that he desperately needs to get back to. Lucy may not even want to talk to him ever again, but he has to try; he has to. 

“What is WITSEC?” Jiya questions.

“It’s short for witness security, but basically it’s the witness protection program,” he explains.

“I’ll help you…but only because you help others, including our kind,” Denise replies, as she gestures to herself and Jiya.

“You will? Thank you. I’ll owe you one.”

“You’ll owe me more than one, Mr. Flynn. Be advised, this will _not_ be a pleasant experience for you. Jiya and I will see _everything_ you’ve ever done. The more you try to hide from us, the more painful this will become. It’s your choice if you still want to go through with it,” Denise states tersely.

He didn’t like it when just Jiya was poking around in his brain, so he sure as hell doesn’t want Denise to have free range in there. He doesn’t really see any other choice, though. If someone is following or watching him, he could be putting people unnecessarily in harm’s way. He may once have been a monster, but those days are behind him; far behind. 

“I need to do it. I need to be sure,” he assures the women.

“Alright then,” Denise replies.

“What will we need?” Jiya inquires.

He waits on the couch as the two women scurry off to the basement and begin to prepare for whatever fresh hell he’s just signed up for. He’s cursing himself for not leaving a note for Lucy, or even getting her number. He supposes he could call the bar and ask to speak to her, but he doesn’t really want to do that. If she wants to keep what happened between them under wraps, he could potentially put her in a precarious position.

The ladies summon him down to the basement a few minutes later. As he descends the stairs, the stench of sage singes his nostrils. As he steps off the last step, he notices Jiya and Denise are standing around a chalk-drawn circle on the floor. Candles are lit around the four corners of the room, and a ceremonial bowl lies in the middle of the table.

“Step into the circle,” Denise instructs.

He glances over at Jiya for reassurance. Crazy as it may be, he trusts her. He may have saved her life in Budapest all those years ago, but she repaid the favor not three years later. Jiya nods her head back at him, so he takes a step into the circle. 

Denise starts to gather the different herbs and potions on the table as Jiya approaches him. 

“I need some of your blood,” Jiya advises, as she takes the ceremonial bowl from Denise’s hand.

He bares his fangs, lifts his arm and bites his wrist. The blood drips slowly from his arm down into the bowl. Once Jiya has enough, she pulls the bowl away. He allows the wound to close on its own, which takes a second or two. 

Denise mixes in the rest of the ingredients, then recites an incantation and sets the contents of the bowl on fire. The blood and herbs go up in a puff of smoke, which fills the room quickly. A few moments go by before it then begins to dissipate. Denise hands the bowl to Jiya, who begins to breathe in the smoke emanating from it. Denise takes Jiya’s hand in hers, then places her other hand on his head. He has to squat down a little so that she doesn’t have to stand on her tip-toes in order to reach him.

As soon as Denise’s hand squeezes his head, a blinding white light flashes before his eyes. He can’t see anything at all. When the haze clears, he finds he’s in a narrow, endless hallway with doors on both sides. Jiya and Denise appear behind him in the corridor.

“Let’s get this over with,” Denise advises, as she opens the door closest to her. “Jiya, you take the other side.”

Jiya nods and opens the door closest to her. Confusion sets in quickly. He has no idea if he’s supposed to do anything, nor does he truly understand what’s going on right now. He dawdles behind Jiya, as she opens another door.

“Jiya! You let him feed from you! We need to have a serious talk, young lady. First, Lucy, now this one?” Denise groans.

Flynn peeks around Denise and sees his own self lying in Jiya’s lap. Denise slams the door, then moves on to the next. 

“You fed on Lucy?” he whispers to Jiya as they continue to search the rooms on the right side of the corridor.

“Not now, Flynn.”

“Think about the witnesses you’ve relocated,” Denise instructs. “Otherwise, we’ll be here all day.”

He doesn’t want to prolong this anymore than he has to, so he concentrates hard on some of the witnesses he’s had to relocate for WITSEC. He thinks of the most likely suspects first, as they continue their search down the corridors of his brain. It’s not like _all_ of these people aren’t in danger. After all, they wouldn’t have been placed into witness protection if they weren’t. There are a ton of human subjects he’s relocated, so he goes through the list of those. He’s really hoping it’s one of them. Things could get a little dicey if he has to go through the list of creatures he’s relocated for various reasons. 

He feels as if this is never going to end. They’ve gone through his list of human relocatees, now they’re entering into the danger zone of creature world.

“I’m shocked you’ve helped so many witches,” Denise remarks, as she checks room after room.

“Job’s a job. Doesn’t matter to me what they are. They need help, so I help,” he answers with a shrug.

Denise pulls on the next doorknob, but it doesn’t budge. Pain shoots through his body, as she continues to yank on the door.

“Open up, Flynn. I warned you. Let me in,” Denise chides.

“I-I can’t. Not this one. It’s highly classified. I-I can’t take the chance of someone finding out about this,” he replies honestly.

The pain is almost unbearable now, as Denise yanks even harder on the doorknob.

“I told you. You can’t fight this. Open the door, Flynn.”

He shakes his head vehemently. He can’t. He can’t open this particular door. It’s horrifying enough that Denise and Jiya already have access to every deep, dark, evil deed he’s ever committed in three-thousand years, let alone be privy to this information. 

“Check everywhere else first then!” he bellows in frustration.

Denise huffs aloud, but goes to the next door; and the next.

It feels like an eternity is passing him by. He’s growing tired and he’s in so much agony, that he slumps down in the hallway and sits on the floor. His gut is telling him that he should just give in, give away the secret he swore to keep, but he can’t. He’s never broken a promise before, which is probably why he doesn’t make them very often. It could be catastrophic if this particular secret gets out.

He’s on the verge of passing out now. His vision is blurry, yet he’s vaguely aware of Jiya squatting down in front of him attempting to gently coax him back to the land of consciousness. She’s pleading with him to let them in the door. She even swears that she’ll personally go in and Denise can stay out here. 

If he tries to bear this any longer, the spell is going to kill him. If he spills this secret, though, he deserves to die miserably. There were only two other individuals aware of what he did; what the situation was; and how dangerous it could be. Both of them went to the grave with it. Dead men tell no tales.

Suddenly, there’s a loud banging noise coming from inside the locked door. He snaps back to reality with a renewed will to fight. He’s still in agony, but he manages to drag his carcass down the hallway towards the door. It’s quite possible that his brain is dying and he’s hallucinating right now, but as he crawls closer and closer, he hears it again.

He presses his ear to the door and listens intently. He hears the sound of a fist pounding on the door as someone screams his name.

“Hello?”

“Flynn?”

“Yeah.”

“Flynn, you have to let them in. You have to tell them,” a woman’s voice calls out.

“I can’t. I promised,” he replies with a heavy heart.

“You must. You’re the only one who can protect me. If you die…”

“If I die, who you are, where you are, and most importantly _what_ you are, dies with me,” he counters.

“I can’t do it alone, Flynn. I can’t. I won’t.”

“Fine!” he screams at the top of his lungs.

“You’ll finally let me in?” Jiya asks in confusion.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” he snaps.

Jiya and Denise are staring at him as if he’s gone completely loco. 

“Alright. Jiya can go in.”

He relents his resistance and the door pops open. He hates with every fiber of his being that he’s breaking a promise right now. He also hates that he’s putting Jiya in harm’s way. This isn’t the sort of thing one can forget, and if the wrong people find out she knows…

Jiya strides into the room and disappears into the mist. Denise eyes him warily as they wait. Little by little, the pain begins to subside. As the pain ebbs, the gravity of what is happening is not lost on him. He has two witches poking around in his head and one of them is currently learning a dangerous secret. _This is so not good._

Jiya exits the room a few minutes later. The shock is written across her face as a plain as day. She extends her hand to him and helps him off the floor.

“I-I…” she stammers.

“Now you understand, don’t you?”

Jiya can only nod in response. She takes his hand in hers and gazes up at him with an expression of awe and admiration. Denise takes Jiya’s other hand and the next thing he knows, they’re back in the basement again.

“Well, what’s the verdict?” he deadpans, as he stands up and exits the chalk circle.

“It’s not a spell, at least not in the traditional sense of the word,” Denise explains with a frown.

“What the hell does that mean? Can you please translate witch for me?” he growls, as he glances over at Jiya.

Denise huffs at his impatience. 

“It’s more or less a supernatural tracker. But, this wasn’t done by a witch. It was done by your own kind,” Denise informs him.

“Fuck!”

“Yeah, it’s not good. Jiya’s magic can disable it, but wherever you’ve been since it was placed has been recorded and transmitted back,” Denise advises.

“When was that?” he growls in anger.

“I can’t tell you. I don’t even know how they did it.”

Denise’s phone suddenly buzzes and she looks down at with a frown.

“I have to go. A man was attacked on the nature trail tonight. They think it was an animal or a vampire. You weren’t up there, were you?” Denise questions.

“You were just poking around in all my memories. Don’t you think you would’ve noticed if I murdered someone while I was here?” he sasses.

Denise concedes his point, then shrugs her jacket back on.

“I’ll talk to you later, Jiya.”

“It was nice meeting you too!” he states sarcastically as Denise is half-way up the basement stairs.

“That’s not helping, you know,” Jiya chides.

“I know, but I couldn’t help myself.”

Jiya begins to gather the items she’ll require to put an end to his supernatural GPS system. Neither of them say much for a few minutes. He assumes she’s still grappling with what she saw and what she now knows.

“Jiya, if I-if I get these people or creatures killed…”

“You won’t. I have faith in…”

Suddenly, Jiya’s eyes turn white and roll back into her head. Flynn sprints forward and grabs her. Her body goes as limp as a noodle as the vision shakes her violently. Since it’s now his turn to repay the favor, he holds her tightly in his arms and prays this ends sooner rather than later.


	6. Something's Fishy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rufus reports Lucy’s disappearance to the police.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise we will find out what happened to Lucy in the next chapter, which I'm almost finished writing.

Rufus is seriously freaking out right now. Lucy has just up and vanished. If someone was able to overpower a vampire, he certainly doesn’t stand a chance. The only weapon he’s ever been comfortable with are his kitchen knives.

Every noise, from the owl hooting outside to the hum of the refrigerator, startles and shakes him to his core. He called the cops what feels like ages ago and they _still_ aren’t here. _Of course when the black man calls them for help they take forever to get here. If a white person called though…_

Finally, he hears the sirens off in the distance and he breathes a sigh of relief. He hates interacting with the cops, but Lucy is his friend. She gave him a job when no one else in this town wanted to. Not only did she give him the job, but she basically gave him carte blanche to run the kitchen and plan the day’s menu. He would never have had that opportunity anywhere else.

Officer Casey knocks on the door and Rufus unlocks the door with his shaking hands. He explains to the uniformed officer that Lucy just disappeared. Officer Casey takes the report, then inspects the so-called scene of the crime out back. He notices the trash bag lying on the ground where Lucy dropped it. He instructs Rufus to wait at the back door, as he pulls his service weapon from the holster along with his flashlight. 

Officer Casey checks the side of the bar and the stairs that lead up to Lucy’s apartment above. When he comes back down the stairs, he informs Rufus that Lucy’s apartment door appears to be undisturbed. _Thank God. He forgot to check to see if Lucy went upstairs for something before he freaked out._

After checking the sides of the building, Officer Casey proceeds towards the woods. He stops midway down the dirt path and shines his flashlight off to the right. He grabs the police radio attached to his uniform and calls dispatch. Rufus can only hear the squawking of the radio, not what is being said specifically.

The next thing he knows, Officer Casey is walking towards him, ushering him back through the kitchen to the front door of the bar.

“What? What did you find?” Rufus questions in a panic.

“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to wait out front since this is now an active crime scene,” Officer Casey responds.

“Crime scene?”

A moment later, another patrol car, as well as an unmarked police car, pull into the parking lot. The other uniformed officers begin to erect the crime scene tape around the building, while a female detective strolls toward where he and Officer Casey are waiting. 

“What do we got, Stiv?”

“I never thought these words would come out of my mouth but, we have a vampire abduction,” Officer Casey replies.

“And, you are?” she questions, as she glances over at Rufus.

“Rufus Carlin, ma’am. I’m the cook here.”

“And the only witness,” Officer Casey adds, as he rolls his eyes.

The woman detective pulls Rufus aside.

“I’m Detective Christopher. Please, Mr. Carlin, start from the beginning and tell me what happened.”

Rufus goes over his story again, then overhears Officer Casey inform the detective he found drag marks in the dirt that lead off into the woods. He nervously rubs his hands, as he looks around.

“What is it?” Detective Christopher asks.

“It-it just feels as if we’re being watched,” Rufus answers, as a shiver goes up his spine.

A huge gust of wind blows a moment later, the fall leaves swirling in a circle around him. He doesn’t have to be a witch to know that something isn’t right here. He’s pretty sure that Detective Christopher _is_ a witch, especially considering most of this town is. People are strange here, but it’s never bothered him before. _So, why is it bugging him so much now?_

Detective Christopher glances around nervously at their surroundings. An extra layer of eeriness blankets the trees and woods surrounding them. He’s lived in Salem for a while and the place has always had a mystical vibe, but this-this is something new entirely. The hair on his arms stand on end, as a shiver runs up and down his spine once more. Every instinct in him is telling him to get the hell out of here right now, but he’s worried about Lucy. 

“Mr. Carlin, why don’t you accompany me back to the station so you can give your official statement?” Detective Christopher states in a suggestive tone, though he knows it’s not really a suggestion at all.

He doesn’t really want to go to the police station if he doesn’t have to. _Hello, black man in America, here_. He’d much rather be out in the woods looking for any sign of Lucy. If he were abducted, he knows she’d be searching for him. He’s not exactly an outdoorsman. Being from the south side of Chicago didn’t give him many of those opportunities growing up, but he’s been in New England long enough to have ventured out and experienced the great outdoors. Plus, he owns a flashlight and that’s really all that’s needed to search for his friend. 

Detective Christopher ushers him towards her unmarked police car and opens the back door. Rufus hesitates for a moment, glances around again uneasily, then climbs into the back seat. Never in his entire life did he think he would _voluntarily_ get into the back of a police car.

As Detective Christopher exits the parking lot, two other police cars file into the parking lot of Preston’s Pub. He feels slightly better at seeing more of them arrive, but feels as if no one is taking Lucy’s abduction with the seriousness that it deserves. 

Silence fills the car as they head down Brown Street. He has no idea if he should be engaging in conversation with the detective, but he’s not about to irritate her with his ramblings.

“No offense, Mr. Carlin, but you stink like fish,” Detective Christopher announces.

“Yeah, well, that’s what happens when you work with seafood all day,” Rufus chuckles in reply. “It’s not the first time I’ve heard that and most likely won’t be the last.”

He’s nervous as they pull into the police station. He has no reason to be, but Detective Christopher’s imposing presence isn’t helping the situation in the least.

He goes into the station and fills out his “official statement” for Detective Christopher. The squad room seems to be particularly busy tonight and Detective Christopher is interrupted more than once with news from her other crime scene up on the nature trail.

“I forgot about that. You must really have your hands full tonight,” Rufus states to the detective.

“How do you know about that, Mr. Carlin?” Detective Christopher questions.

“Ernest came into the pub late and told us all about it.”

“Ernest?”

“Ernie Hemingway; the reporter for The Salem News. He drinks at the pub all the time,” Rufus advises.

He doesn’t like where this is going whatsoever. The tone Detective Christopher is now taking with him is as if he’s a suspect in Lucy’s disappearance and possibly even the murder up on the trail. _He knew he should’ve never trusted the damn police._

He spends hours answering her questions over and over again before he finally snaps.

“Listen, if I’m not under arrest, I’m leaving. Someone needs to take this seriously and go look for Lucy. She’s my friend and she’d do the same for me,” Rufus declares, as he stands up from the chair.

“You sure you didn’t do something to your so-called friend? You _were_ the last person to see her,” Detective Christopher demands.

“I’m a lover, not a fighter, _Detective_. Secondly, what the hell could a puny human like me do to a five-hundred-year-old vampire?”

Detective Christopher doesn’t respond and he exits the interrogation room in a huff. _He’ll go wander the woods himself if he has to, but he’s searching for Lucy tonight._

As he pushes past another uniformed officer at the front of the station, he runs smack dab into none other than Ernest Hemingway.

“Hey, Rufus! What the hell are you doing here?” Ernie questions loudly.

“Lucy is missing and apparently the cops are too damn lazy to care or do anything about it,” Rufus huffs.

“That still doesn’t explain why you’re here?”

“Hello? Black guy, heinous crime,” Rufus mutters.

Ernest shrugs in response, then clamps his hands down onto Rufus’ shoulders.

“Have no fear, Hemingway is here!”

_Great._

Rufus pushes the door open and realizes he’s been in the station so long that the sun is going to be up in about an hour. Since Ernest seems to be the only one willing to help him search, he’s going to take the drunk up on his offer.

Rufus’ car is still in the lot at Preston’s Pub, so they take Ernie’s car and drive as close as they can. The police are still there, but they allow Rufus to remove his car from the lot. He meets back up with Ernie and grabs a flashlight from his glove compartment. The two men then head off into the woods.

“Lucy! Lucy!” they both call out, as they trudge through the moss and mud.

Rufus shines his light ahead, as they wind their way down a small game path in the woods. The light reflects back into his face as it hits a shiny, metallic object.

“Ernie! Look over there!” Rufus exclaims, as he jogs towards the object.

He squats down and plucks the golden shimmer out of the mud.

“Lucy’s locket!” Ernie states, as he breathes hard into Rufus’ ear. 

His breath stinks so bad it almost knocks Rufus over.

“Damn, Ernie. You ever heard of breath mints?” Rufus mutters.

“You ever heard of a shower, fish boy?” Ernest retorts.

Rufus knows how much that locket means to Lucy. There is _no_ way she’d ever willingly leave it lying in the mud in the woods. The chain appears to have been broken, probably during whatever struggle took place here. _Fuck._ _This is really not good._

“Lucy’s a feisty one. She wouldn’t be dragged off without a fight, which means…”

“Which means we are out of our league, Ernie. What the hell are the two of us supposed to do against a vampire that’s stronger than Lucy?” Rufus exclaims with a wave of his hands.

Ernest puts his fists up and stumbles, as he tries to adopt a fighter’s stance.

“They haven’t met the Hemingway hook yet!”

This would be _so_ much easier if he was doing this by himself; or with anyone who was _actually_ sober and competent.

All of a sudden, they hear a howling sound coming from close by.

“What the hell is that?” Ernest asks nervously, as he glances around in the dim morning light.

“That’s a wolf.”

“Oh yeah, and you’d know that how Chicago?” Ernest sasses.

“ _Because_ …I’m staring right at it.”

Ernest turns towards Rufus, reaches into the inside pocket of his jacket and removes a flask. He opens the flask, takes a swig and casually offers it to Rufus.

“I don’t really think it’s the time for that right now,” Rufus whispers, as the wolf advances slowly towards them.

They both burst into a sprint back towards the path that leads to the pub. Ernest trips and tumbles to the ground. Rufus grabs the collar of his jacket and yanks him back up. They run as fast as they can through the fallen leaves and mud, as Ernest screams his head off. When Rufus glances back he can see the wolf giving chase. Right before he turns his head back, the wolf’s eyes flash a brilliant yellow. They were a yellowish color to begin with, but this is like Times Square neon bright.

He can see the pub up ahead, but he doesn’t know how much longer he can outrun the wolf. He watches in horror as he and Ernest run past the officers, while the cops stand there laughing at the two of them. Rufus stops running and glances back to where the officers are standing. The officers are now doubled over and are pointing to the edge of the woods.

“What a terrifying wolf,” the one officer laughs.

Rufus can’t believe his eyes. Standing there looking as cute and stupid as ever, is Jessica’s little dog, Winchester. He’s filthy dirty, but otherwise unharmed.

“There was a wolf, I swear,” Rufus states, as he picks Winchester up off the ground. “What the hell are you doing out here all alone, huh?”

The police shoo them out of the area, so Ernie and Rufus, with Winchester in tow, walk around the side of the pub towards the parking lot. Rufus really wants to continue the search for Lucy, but he doesn’t want to become a predator’s breakfast either. _Perhaps one of the witches can do a locator spell._

He doesn’t really know who is and who isn’t a witch in this town (he just knows there’s a lot of them), but he is sure he knows one that might be motivated to help him. Unfortunately, that witch is the one person on this planet that he cannot seem to maintain his composure around. In fact, he’s barely managed to say hello to her. She’s so beautiful that his brain literally malfunctions whenever she’s around, but for Lucy’s sake, he’s going to have to man up and try. _Here goes nothing._


	7. Bloodline

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy discovers the identity of her abductor and the reason behind her kidnapping.

Lucy is so overwhelmed by the stench of garlic when the hand clasps over her mouth, her reaction time slows to that of a normal human. Contrary to folklore, garlic is not a vampire repellant or allergen. Lucy personally loves garlic. The most that will happen to a vampire is that they will develop the worst garlic-breath in the world. The only other side-effect is the one that Lucy is currently experiencing: shock. Too much exposure to it can temporarily stun their senses if they’re not careful. 

The next thing she knows, her feet are being dragged through the mud. Branches scratch her arms and legs as her abductor retreats further and further into the woods. The fresh garlic in his hand is pressing into her nose and mouth and gagging her, as tree branches and leaves dart in and out of her field of vision. 

Suddenly, her captor jerks her body to the left and the mud makes way for the crunch of gravel beneath her feet. Lucy is well-acquainted with these woods and she knows they’ve hit the access road a few miles in. 

The next thing she knows, the man shoves her into the trunk of his car. Her head slams against the top of the trunk as she tumbles inside. The hood slams a second later, trapping her. This is literally her worst nightmare come to life. As irrational as it is, Lucy is still claustrophobic. Her rational mind knows that she literally can’t die _again_ , but the fear is not rational. 

Her claustrophobia has been with her since she was nineteen-years-old; nineteen human years that is. She had fallen for a boy that her parents didn’t approve of. Once day, she snuck out to meet him. On the way home, she insisted that the carriage driver rush along the winding road so that she wouldn’t be late meeting her parents. The carriage tipped over on a curve in the road and plunged into the river below. She hit her head and was disoriented, especially because the carriage was upside down. Panic filled her entire body and mind and she truly thought she was going to die. Luckily, the carriage driver managed to save her. Ever since that day, she can no longer be in confined spaces.

She slams her eyes shut and tries to steady herself. Whoever kidnapped her is in for a rude awakening when they open this damn trunk. She’s going to shred them limb from limb.

The car jostles her from side to side as it flies down the access road. She tries to pay attention to how fast they’re going, how many turns they make and how long they’ve been driving. If she can figure that out, it may just clue her in on who took her, or how she can get back home.

After about fifteen minutes, the car turns abruptly to the left and slows down, then stops entirely. Lucy can hear the door open and footsteps approaching the trunk. She readies herself to spring into action, but the trunk doesn’t open. She listens closely and can hear him dragging what sounds like fallen trees and branches. She surmises that he must be camouflaging the road they’ve turned down. She can’t think of any other reason why he’d do that otherwise. 

She hears the car door open again and feels him sit down before he puts the car in drive. They continue down a gravel-lined road for another two minutes, then the vehicle stops again. The door opens once more, but the footsteps wander off into the opposite direction.

Lucy could probably dent the trunk up and escape, but it would take a little while. This car is made of old, heavy steel, not the new composite material. At least her claustrophobia is on the back-burner right now, as her rage and anger overwhelm her senses.

She hears the footsteps approaching a moment later. She perches precariously inside the trunk, ready to pounce the second it opens. Whoever took her is going to wish they didn’t real soon. Lucy’s never been a vicious killer, but it doesn’t mean she’s not capable of killing; just ask those poor souls she attacked directly after her transformation or periods of blood lust throughout the centuries. She always feels despicable and wretched afterwards, but it’s never stopped her instinctual urges whatsoever. 

She hears the key turn the lock and the trunk pops open. She springs to life, lets out a primal scream and bares her fangs. She jumps out and knocks her abductor to the ground, sinking her fangs into his neck in a ferocious manner.

“Lucy! Lucy, stop! It’s me! Stop!”

The voice has a familiarity about it, so she pulls back. She sits back on her heels, as the blood drips down her fangs and maroon-stained mouth. She shakes her head, not understanding how in the hell he’s here right now.

“Wyatt?”

“Lu-Lucy.”

Wyatt’s neck wound is deep and bleeding profusely. She leans back down and licks the wound, trying to close it and heal him. Unfortunately, she’s not having luck closing the wound entirely. She bit down hard, shredding the skin and tissue when she attacked him. She needs modern medical equipment to help him now.

She glances around and notices they’re outside a cabin in the woods. It’s not ideal, but it will have to do for right now. He scoops Wyatt up into her arms and flashes down the driveway at top vampire speed. As she tries to enter the cabin, an invisible force field blocks her. She needs the owner’s permission in order to enter. _Fuck._

“I give you permission,” Wyatt whispers at a barely audible level.

She tries again and this time she’s able to enter the cabin. She kicks the door shut with her foot and lays him down on the table.

“Where are your first aid supplies?” Lucy asks in a panic.

Wyatt points towards a bathroom, then passes out from the blood loss. She darts across the floor and finds a small first aid kit in the bathroom cabinet. She speeds back to the table and presses the gauze from the kit against Wyatt’s neck. 

She could feed him her blood which would heal him, but if he dies with her blood in his system, he’ll turn. Lucy refuses to ever be the reason that happens to someone. She knows what living with this curse is like and she wouldn’t wish it on her worst enemy. Living forever might seem like an inviting prospect, but once you realize how long eternity _actually_ is, most immortals don’t feel the same way. 

Wyatt bleeds through the first pad of gauze pretty fast. She needs to get this to stop soon or he could die. She doesn’t want that on her conscious either. Just because their prior relationship didn’t end well, doesn’t mean she wants the man to die, either. 

She doesn’t know what else to do, so she bites her wrist gingerly and shoves it into Wyatt’s mouth. He’s still unconscious from the blood loss, so she can’t get him to drink it. She cocks his head to the side and squeezes it from her wrist directly onto his neck wound. The blood seeps in slowly and his wound begins to close. 

He regains consciousness a few minutes later, sitting straight up and gasping for air. He’s obviously confused about his surroundings, as he glances around in a panic. Finally, he locks eyes with her and breathes out a deep breath.

“Lucy. Thank god.”

“Wyatt, what the hell are you doing here? Why are you dressed like the crocodile hunter and why the _hell_ did you kidnap me?” Lucy demands as she folds her arms.

“I didn’t mean to scare or hurt you. I was trying to save you once I realized what was happening,” he answers in a whisper.

“What’s happening?”

“You’re in danger. They’re coming for you,” Wyatt answers between coughs.

“What? Who’s coming for me?”

“Rittenhouse.”

The name sends a chill through her body. She hasn’t heard that name uttered aloud in nearly two centuries. In fact, if she never heard it again for the remainder of eternity, it would be too soon.

“What did you say, Wyatt?” Lucy demands with a menacing scowl.

“You heard me. Rittenhouse found out where you are. They’re coming to take you _or_ kill you.”

“How do you know this?” Lucy questions.

“Because I was tracking a vampire that hunts for them,” Wyatt explains.

_Holy crap. That definitely explains the dead body on the nature trail then._

“Do you know who the vampire is?” Lucy questions.

Her thoughts immediately flash back to the vampire in her bed last night. _Was it Flynn? Did Rittenhouse send him to abduct or kill her?_

“No. I’ve never seen this particular one before,” Wyatt replies.

“You need to start at the beginning. Tell me everything.”

Wyatt advises that he was following up on a lead about his missing wife. _Ah, yes the wife you conveniently forgot to tell me about while we were dating_. The lead he followed allowed him to stumble upon the world of supernatural creatures. He became convinced that a monster took his wife and he vowed to hunt them all down and kill them until he found her.

“I still don’t understand what this has to do with me, though.”

“At one point, I realized that someone else was hunting creatures as well, but that person wasn’t human. After a bit of recon, I found out it was a vampire. I got the drop on him and interrogated him for a while. He confessed he was working for the Rittenhouse family and that his unit had been assigned to hunt down what he called ‘bloodline defectors.’ He had a list on him, so I took it and began doing my own research. I didn’t realize you were Lucy Preston until I came here and saw you.”

“No, why would you?” Lucy mutters.

“After all, when we dated you went by Lucy Wallace. Hell, I didn’t even know you were a vampire until yesterday,” Wyatt complains.

“You shouldn’t have interfered, Wyatt. You put yourself in danger by getting involved. I can take care of myself. I have for two-hundred years. You should go before you get yourself killed. Let them come. I’ll die before I go back to them,” Lucy declares emphatically.

Lucy can still remember the conversation with her mother like it was yesterday. Her mother was pushing her to marry Noah and she was being beyond unreasonable about it. Lucy hadn’t understood at the time, but once she pressed for answers, her mother told her about her Rittenhouse heritage. 

She had heard about the Rittenhouse family before, but never knew she was a part of it. She had just assumed her mother became desperate when she got sick and chose to become a vampire. Never in her wildest dreams did she ever think she was a pureblood. Purebloods weren’t turned, they were born. The vampire gene was passed down to her just like her brown hair was. Purebloods live their lives as normal humans until they die. Once they die, the gene kicks in and the transformation begins. It’s similar to the process of vampires who are turned, except they need to have the blood of a vampire in them when they die in order for the transformation to occur. It’s not enough just to be bitten. They’re not like werewolves in that respect. The transformation of werewolves and non-pureblood vampires is the result of a virus taking over the human body, whereas purebloods carry the virus in their genetic code. Lucy’s not a scientist, so the mechanics of how the virus spreads after death in purebloods is still a mystery to her.

Lucy had always assumed she and her sister had been turned by their mother. Lucy vaguely remembers falling ill in 1520, while she was living in London. She remembers her mother, father and sister crowding her bedside as the doctors told them she most likely wouldn’t survive. She recalls her mother giving her a sip of wine from a goblet before the world went black. She assumed the wine goblet contained the vampire blood that propagated her transformation. She believed that for the next two-hundred years. It turns out, the wine goblet actually contained poison. She had never been sick in the first place. Her mother had decided that Lucy was old enough and accomplished enough to take her place among the family. “You’ll be young and beautiful for eternity, Lucy.”

After this bombshell was dropped on her, she fled to Paris. At first, her mother was content to allow her time to process the responsibility of being vampire royalty, but when Lucy refused to come back and join the fold, all hell broke loose. Amy went missing and Lucy searched for her, while her mother continued to act as if she didn’t care. Lucy bolted and moved from place to place, as she dodged the vampires her mother sent after her for almost twenty years.

Eventually, she figured they gave up looking for her. She had always been one step ahead, never using her real name and never staying in one spot for too long; until now. Salem spoke to her and she truly believed she had finally found a home. Now, that home is being threatened by her family and she will defend it or die trying. She’s tired of running. The time has come for her to stand her ground and fight.


	8. Fracas in the Forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The search for Lucy intensifies.

When Jiya comes to for the second time in his arms, he gently helps her to her feet. 

“Jiya?”

“Shit. Um, shit,” Jiya repeats as she paces back and forth.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” he asks with concern.

“Lucy. I’ve gotta warn her. She’s in danger.”

“From who?” he questions.

“It’s too complicated to explain right now. We don’t have time for this. We have to go,” Jiya informs him.

“But-but what about removing this GPS thing?”

“We’ll have to do it on the fly, I’m afraid,” Jiya replies, as she grabs her satchel purse and leather jacket.

He grabs his jacket and follows her out the side door to the driveway.

“Hop on,” she instructs, as she nods towards the motorcycle parked in front of them.

“Why can’t we just take my car?”

“Get on the damn bike, Flynn!”

“At least let me drive. Vampire reflexes and all,” he suggests.

“Witch reflexes and an intimate knowledge of the area. Get on…now.”

She throws the spare helmet at him even though he doesn’t need it. She gets on the motorcycle and he climbs on behind her. He doesn’t even have time to place his hands on her waist before they’re flying out of the driveway and onto the street. 

Jiya weaves in and out of traffic at top speed, dodging red lights and stop signs by turning off down alleys. He’s shocked she’s not driving on the damn sidewalk at this point. He literally fears for his life as they fly through town and he’s already dead. _The woman is a maniac._

As they pull down the street towards the pub, he can see the flashing of police sirens up ahead. Jiya speeds up and they pull into the abandoned lot across from the bar where a few other people have gathered.

They dismount the bike and remove their helmets. He has no clue who these people are aside from the shapeshifter and her little dog, but apparently Jiya knows them.

“What the hell is going on?” Jiya asks to no one in particular. “Where’s Lucy?”

“She’s just gone,” one of the black men replies.

“What do you mean? Gone where?” he demands.

“Who the hell are you?”

“I-I know xactly who he is. He’s the vampire that came into the bar the other night-last night-one of the nights of the week,” Connor hiccups.

They all turn to stare at him as Ernie passes him his flask.

“Rufus, this is Flynn. Flynn, this is Rufus. He’s Lucy’s cook,” Jiya advises.

“And friend,” Rufus chimes in.

“Yes, and friend,” Jiya clarifies.

“I don’t care who the hell he is! I only care about where Lucy is,” he growls.

“I’m too late,” Jiya mutters, as she puts her head into her hands.

“We were just about to fan out and look for her again, since the cops don’t give two shits about an abducted vampire,” Ernie chimes in.

“I’m surprised _you_ care about an abducted vampire,” the shapeshifter snaps.

“It’s Lucy! Of course I care,” Ernie states emphatically.

“He cares more about the bar being closed,” Rufus whispers to Jiya.

Flynn chuckles. _He likes this Rufus._

“I heard that, fish boy! I guess I almost became wolf bait for nothing then.”

“What’s he blathering about?” he asks Rufus.

Rufus waves him off, indicating it’s not even worth getting into right now. They all collectively roll their eyes, then stand there staring at each other. Jiya is the first to break the stalemate.

“We should split up and start looking for her,” she suggests.

“Uh, sure. Hey, Jiya?” Rufus states nervously.

“Yeah?”

“I was thinking, maybe you could try a locator spell? It might narrow the search area down, at least,” Rufus explains.

“I would need something personal of Lucy’s in order to perform the spell. With the bar on lockdown…”

Rufus digs into the pockets of his pants and pulls out a shiny object.

“Will this do?” Rufus asks, as he dangles a gold locket from his fingers.

He recognizes it instantly. Lucy wore it the night they met, and unlike the rest of her clothes, she never took it off. He didn’t ask about what was in it or what it meant to her, but he assumes it holds some special significance.

“Yes! Alright, I’ll get started on the locator spell while you start searching for Lucy. I have Flynn, Rufus and Jess’ cell numbers so I’ll call or text you if I locate her,” Jiya advises.

Jiya removes her satchel bag and sits down right in the abandoned lot. The rest of them eye each other warily. He knows no one trusts him or wants to go with him and he doesn’t care. He’ll go search for Lucy by himself if he has to.

“I’ll go with Dracula over here,” Rufus informs everyone.

“Oh, come on, Rufus. I thought we made such a great team,” Ernest whines.

“Come on, Ernie, Connor. Let’s go,” Jessica announces. “Hey, Jiya? Can I leave Winchester with you?”

Jiya agrees to watch Jessica’s dog and the group sets out across the parking lot towards the bar. The police still have the area cordoned off, but they split up into teams and walk along the police tape towards the woods.

“Where did you see the tracks before?” he asks Rufus, as they follow a game trail further into the woods.

“The drag marks are back closer to the bar. The police have that taped off still. It was too dark for me to try to track them any further,” Rufus explains.

They stroll further along the path, searching for signs that Lucy or whoever took her has been there. He spots a footprint up ahead, but it disappears into the brush without another sign of life.

“Why don’t you just change instead of sniffling over there trying to pick up Lucy’s scent?” Flynn groans.

“What? I have allergies, man.”

He stops dead in his tracks, causing Rufus to slam directly into his chest.

“Look, you may be able to fool the rest of them with the fish cologne, but I know a werewolf when I smell one,” he sasses.

“I have no clue what you’re talking about. I’m just your average human living in a town full of witches with one-now two, vampires.”

“Nice try. Oh, and don’t forget shapeshifter girl and her dog,” he replies casually, as he pushes back some brush with his hand.

“Wha-what?” Rufus gasps.

“You didn’t know? Well, now you do. So, what do ya say, Rufus? Time to run with the pack or what?”

“Fuck you.”

They follow the broken branches and climb through the brush some more, until they come upon a gravel road. 

“Her scent stops here,” Rufus mutters at a barely audible level (well, an audible level for a human at least).

They both glance around and he notices the fresh tire tracks in the road.

“Someone drove out of here with her. They could be anywhere by now. We better hope Jiya has better luck with that spell of hers,” Flynn advises, as he kicks a piece of gravel with his foot.

“Why do you care so much? You’ve known Lucy for what, a day?”

Suddenly, he hears something off in the distance, so he puts his hand in the air to tell Rufus to shut up.

“What is it?” Rufus whispers.

He doesn’t answer him, but instead tunes into the sounds of the woods. The animals have gone silent. A predator lurks nearby, he just has to figure out whether it’s of the natural or supernatural kind.

The brush moves slightly and he knows they’re no longer alone. He can’t see anyone, but he can smell them. The next thing he knows, a vampire flies out from the forest with his fangs bared and lunges at Rufus. He springs into action, leaping from his position and interrupting the attacking vampire mid-air. They collide like two freight trains, limbs contorting and wrenching like shards of metal, then tumble to the ground. Rufus stumbles backwards and falls on his butt.

Flynn doesn’t know this vampire, but since he seems determined to kill both he and Rufus, he doesn’t waste any time taking charge of the fray. Ideally, he would love to subdue this vampire and interrogate him for information about Lucy and himself. He’s not sure which one of them this vampire’s interested in. If it’s him, he needs to know who sent him so he can protect himself and his witness. If it’s for Lucy, he needs to know why and where the hell she is.

The vampire snaps and claws as they jockey for position. He’s much older than his attacker, which decidedly gives him the upper hand; or so he thought. A sharp pain stabs his ribs suddenly. He instinctively places his hand where he feels the pain, and realizes he’s been stabbed with a wooden stake. _Fuck._ Thankfully, it missed its intended target. The stake is still stuck in his midsection as the fight lingers on. He’s now decidedly at a disadvantage physically, so he’s going to have to use his mental superiority to win this one. 

He begins to formulate a plan on how he can get the upper hand, when the vampire is thrown off of him by a brown, fuzzy blur. He yanks the stake out of his ribs and winces. As his wound begins to heal, he glances back up to find a humongous wolf tearing this vampire apart. _So much for an interrogation._

Generally, a vampire would have a decided advantage over a werewolf. Vampires are faster, stronger and heal almost instantaneously. Werewolves, on the other hand, are humans after all, so their wounds won’t spontaneously heal. They are faster and stronger than your average human by leaps and bounds, but they are still mortal beings. For this reason, werewolves tend to congregate in packs. He’s always hypothesized that it serves a dual purpose: safety in numbers and the human need for socialization.

Vampires, on the other hand, tend to be more solitary creatures. Some of them pair up and live as couples and even less of them congregate in a hive or family together. Usually, those that live in a hive tend to be younger vampires. This way, they can help each other through the early stages of blood lust and learn impulse control. He’s never done that, which explains his centuries’ long scourge on humanity. He also has never had a desire to couple up with another vampire; at least, until now. The thought of spending the rest of eternity with Lucy has crossed his mind multiple times since they’ve met. He’s probably just fooling himself, but there’s an aching and longing that continues to grow the longer they’ve been apart. He’s never experienced that before, which is both exciting and terrifying at the same time. Of course, none of it matters if Lucy doesn’t want anything to do with him ever again.

He’s not particularly sure how some werewolves can change when it’s not a full moon. Honestly, he doesn’t know much about them at all. Even though he’s as old as he is, he’s pretty much avoided them for most of his existence. He knows how they become werewolves and their strengths and weaknesses, but not much else. 

The fact that Rufus doesn’t seem to have a pack is also telling. He’s not sure if that’s because he’s a relatively new wolf and is having trouble coming to grips with what he’s become, or if he’s been dealing with this for a while and prefers to be alone.

He’s also not one-hundred percent convinced that Lucy isn’t aware that her cook is a werewolf. He smelled it right away and it’s not as if she’s a rookie at being a vampire. He knows she’s around five-hundred years old, but not much else about her past. Then again, it’s not like they did much talking when they were together.

A wolf’s growl brings him out of his reverie and he glances over to see Rufus baring his terrorizing teeth. Thankfully, those teeth are not focused on him, but instead the gray wolf standing at the edge of the road. Gray wolves are not native to Massachusetts, so this is definitely unexpected.

Then suddenly, the wolf’s eyes flash a neon yellow and it rears on its hind legs. A dull shimmer glistens over its form and then Jessica is standing before them a moment later. Rufus also changes back into his human form, except his clothes are now nonexistent or torn to shreds. He strips his leather jacket off and hands it to Rufus. Rufus looks to be slightly embarrassed, but he doesn’t mind giving up his jacket to him in the slightest. After all, he just helped him out of a sticky situation that was getting sketchier by the moment. He won’t go as far to say Rufus saved his life, but…

The three of them stand there in silence just staring at one another. No one wants to address the elephant in the room, though he’s not sure if the elephant is the dead vampire at their feet, or the fact that Rufus and Jessica now know each other’s secrets.

He crouches down and begins to rummage through the dead vampire’s pockets. He locates a wallet and a driver’s license that identifies him as one Jacob Neville of Washington, D.C. He also finds a government issued handgun in his holster. He knows it’s government issued because he has the same damn gun from the Marshal’s service.

A second later, Connor and Ernest come upon them both completely out of breath.

“How the hell you heard anything this far ahead young lady, I will never understand,” Connor states to Jessica.

“What the hell happened to you?” Ernie yells as he looks Rufus up and down.

“The better question is, what the hell happened to him?” Connor states with a nod towards the dead vampire on the ground.

Contrary to pop culture and folklore, vampires don’t spontaneously burst into flames or crumble into a fine dust when they die their immortal death. They do begin to shrivel up upon death, but the process is a long and slow one until there is no longer a body remaining. 

“Do you know this guy?” Rufus asks.

He shakes his head in denial.

“I do,” Jessica chimes in.

Everyone looks at her in shock and surprise.

“He’s Rittenhouse,” Jess states affirmatively.

“What’s Rittenhouse?” Rufus asks.

“Your worst nightmare,” Jess replies somberly.


	9. The Coven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jiya performs a locator spell to find Lucy, then attends an emergency coven meeting.

Jiya takes a seat on the dirt and gravel floor of the abandoned lot and rummages through her satchel. She pulls out four candles and her crystal pendant, along with Lucy’s locket and her cell phone. If she were at home, she’d have access to a paper map of Salem, but since she isn’t, Google Maps will have to suffice. She’s never done a locator spell this way, so she really hopes this actually works. 

She’s also slightly uneasy about being left alone. She’ll be concentrating on the spell, so she will be left essentially unprotected. One man has already been murdered in Salem recently and Lucy’s gone missing, so she doesn’t need to be the next victim.

She was glad that Rufus decided to go search for Lucy with Flynn. She’s never told anyone, but she’s had a crush on Rufus ever since Lucy hired him to cook at the pub. She’s tried to flirt with him in her own nerdy way, but he usually clams up whenever she’s around. 

_Focus, Jiya. Focus._ She lights the candles and begins the locator spell. She holds Lucy’s locket in one hand and her crystal pendant in the other. She chants as she holds the pendant over her cell phone, hoping it can pinpoint Lucy’s location. It swirls in a circle for a few minutes, then comes to a stop over a large wooded area just outside the Salem city limits. There’s nothing out there but wilderness as far as she knows, but that’s where the spell is pointing. _Maybe she needs a real map in order for this to work properly._ She really doesn’t want to send her friends on a wild goose chase into the woods for no reason.

She picks her phone up and calls Flynn. It rings a few times and then he answers.

“Did you find her?”

“Maybe. I’m not sure the spell worked properly. It’s pointing to the middle of nowhere,” she explains.

“Well, we’ve got another problem.”

“What’s the matter?” she asks in a panic.

“Uh, it’s probably better if you meet us out here and see for yourself,” he answers.

She ends the call and Flynn texts her his GPS coordinates. She gathers her supplies back up, stuffing them into her satchel. Then, all of a sudden, Winchester grabs the chain to Lucy’s locket between his teeth and starts to drag it on the ground.

“That’s not a toy, little buddy.”

She pries it from his mouth and notices that the clasp has come undone. She should just close it and put it back in her pocket, but curiosity gets the better of her. Lucy has always worn her locket since the first time they ever met, but she’s never shown her what’s inside. She opens the locket and discovers two different pictures on either side. The first one is a seventeenth-century portrait of two young women. Jiya squints and strains her eyes and can barely ferret out that one of these women is indeed Lucy. She barely recognizes her with the period-appropriate clothing on. She assumes that the other woman in the portrait is Lucy’s sister, Amy. Lucy never really speaks about her and Jiya never pushed to know anything that Lucy wasn’t comfortable talking about. 

The second photo shows Lucy and her sister again, but this portrait looks to be from around 1800 or so. It’s mind-boggling to see two women appear exactly the same as they had in a portrait two-hundred years before the other. 

She closes the locket, secures the clasp and stands back up. She places Winchester’s leash in her left hand and holds her cell phone in the right as she begins to walk towards the pub. She gets across the road, when suddenly she sees a car flying up the roadway. She glances up to see Detective Christopher, who pulls alongside her.

“Get in. We have a major problem,” Denise advises.

Jiya pivots her head between the forest and the Detective.

“But, I-”

“Get in the car. It’s urgent, Jiya.”

Jiya hops into the passenger seat, settling Winchester on her lap.

“What’s with the dog?” Denise questions.

“They’re all out looking for Lucy, so I’m dog watching Winchester.”

Denise remains silent as she speeds down the road towards the center of town.

“What’s so urgent and where are we going?” she asks.

“The coven has called an emergency meeting,” Denise replies as she weaves through the streets with precision.

This is not good. Jiya doesn’t even remember the last time all ten of them were together at once. She quickly texts Flynn that something urgent has come up and she’ll text him again when she’s done. She doesn’t elaborate any further, partially because she can’t elaborate right now.

They don’t meet very often as a coven, and even when they do, it’s usually about five or six of them at a time. Jiya has to infer that it must be a _very_ serious matter if the entire coven is showing up.

Because the coven doesn’t meet regularly, they don’t exactly have a normal meeting place. When the small, active part of the coven meets, they usually do it in Denise’s basement. Jiya notices as they drive that they’re not heading in that direction however.

“Where are we going?” Jiya asks, as the streets blur by the window.

“We’re meeting at Harry’s house. He’s got a large enough veranda to accommodate everyone there. Plus, it’s a little more private,” Denise explains.

Harry is the only male member of the coven. He’s a magician and illusionist by trade, so the rest of the town already thinks he’s weird, which is why seeing him palling around with a group of ladies doesn’t make them bat an eye.

Denise pulls up to Harry’s house and parks along the curb. There’s a vehicle parked in front of them that just arrived a few seconds earlier. Once the doors open, Jiya can see Grace Humiston and Kate Drummond exit the vehicle. The two are deep in discussion, completely oblivious to the fact she and Denise just pulled in behind them.

Kate is a journalist for the Salem News and Grace is an attorney at the Salem Public Defenders’ office. Both of these ladies, along with Denise and her wife, Michelle, make up the coven Jiya meets with regularly. She’s not sure why it’s worked out that way, but for some reason the five of them get along pretty well, even if they don’t have a ton in common. Denise deals with the both of them on a fairly regular basis because of her job, but Jiya and Kate have gone out to the bar on more than one occasion.

They spot Michelle on the front porch, standing beside Harry and Fei. Fei is the youngest member of their coven, but she is a _very_ powerful witch. She may only be a teenager, but Jiya is glad the girl seems to look up to her in a sense. She’d hate to be on the bad side of that much power, but she’s not nice to her just because of that. She genuinely likes the girl and is more than happy to play her big sister role.

When they all climb the stairs and enter Harry’s house, they find another member of the coven standing in the kitchen. Bonnie is staring out the french doors that lead to the veranda. Jiya’s never liked her very much. Everything about Bonnie annoys her. In fact, Jiya swears Bonnie must have been Tina Fey’s inspiration when she wrote Mean Girls. Unfortunately, she’s still a part of the coven, so Jiya tries to maintain some semblance of civility.

There are only two members of the coven who have yet to arrive. Jiya expects as much from Judith, but for Vivien to be late to something like this is unusual. Judith Campbell has roots that run deep in Salem, but she’s known mostly for being the town’s preeminent homewrecker. The woman wants for nothing and has multiple sugar daddies at any given time. Needless to say, Jiya has nothing in common with her either. Plus, she knows Judith is always late so that she can “make an entrance.”

Vivien Jenkins, better known as “Doc” to everyone else, is the leader of their coven. She has a Ph.D. in History and teaches at Salem State University. She participated in the protests of the late sixties and the seventies and just exudes confidence from head to toe. She’s Jiya’s idol in more ways than one. Just like Denise is as well. 

Judith makes her grand entrance a few minutes later, looking both as if she just rolled out of some man’s bed and spent ten hours standing in front of a mirror perfecting her hair and makeup.

“I’m here now. What in the blessed mother’s name is so damn important at this hour of the day?” Judith gripes.

Denise glances down at her watch and mumbles under her breath, “It’s two in the afternoon.”

Michelle shushes her and informs Judith they’re still waiting on Doc to get here. Bonnie huffs loudly and flicks her cigarette onto the veranda.

“So, do any of you know what this is all about?” Bonnie questions.

“I do,” a commanding voice booms from the front door.

They all turn to find their coven leader, Doc, taking off her long trench coat and hanging it on the coatrack. Doc gestures towards the veranda and Harry gallantly holds the french doors open as the women file out.

They all take their places among the circle; Doc with Denise and Michelle flanking her sides; then Harry and Grace besides them and so on and so on. Bonnie and Kate flank her sides. She wishes Fei could replace Bonnie’s spot, but she can’t be petty in a time like this.

“Witches of Salem!” Doc calls out. “We have a problem on our hands, the likes of which this coven, hell even this city, has never faced.”

Everyone looks terrified. Doc is a pretty straight shooter, so her words carry weight. 

“What is it?” Denise asks.

“Rittenhouse is coming,” Doc replies.

“What or who is that?” Denise questions.

“It’s a what and a who.”

The women appear to be very confused and Jiya has to admit she’s having a bit of trouble following along as well.

“They’re a rich and powerful family of purebloods,” Judith advises. “I met one of them when I accompanied the Senator to that dreadfully boring charity event in Boston.”

“Why would they ever come to Salem?” Kate asks, as her reporter curiosity gets the better of her.

“That’s what I’m trying to find out. The one source I have thought it might be to hunt down a rogue family member that would cause shame, or even worse, enter the city,” Doc answers.

“They’re all about appearances, so I can buy that,” Judith chimes in.

“I was hoping you could all check your connections and see what you can find out. In the meantime, I want to erect an extra layer of protection that surrounds the entire town. That’s why I asked you here. It will take the magic of the entire coven to accomplish this,” Doc explains.

Jiya understands immediately that Doc wants to erect a supernatural seal. Normally, she wouldn’t have a problem with that since the only vampire she knows is Lucy. Sure, she knew Flynn as well, but she had no reason to think he was on this continent, let alone in the area. 

She flashes a worried look at Denise. If Lucy is where her spell indicated, that would put her out of the city limits. If they erect the spell, Lucy will be effectively locked out of her home and business.

She shares her concerns with Doc, but they are summarily dismissed; at least, until Denise advises them about the attack on the jogger.

“Rittenhouse could already be here,” Denise advises. “That jogger was attacked by a vampire, and Lucy was abducted shortly thereafter. We need to make sure that they’re not in the city before we wind up sealing them in with us.”

After thinking it over, Doc and the remainder of the coven agree with Denise’s plan. If they were to trap a Rittenhouse vampire in Salem, there’s no telling what sort of war that might ignite.

The coven disperses and Denise informs her wife that she’s going to take Jiya back to her motorcycle.

“I can get a ride with Kate and Grace,” Jiya advises.

“I know you can, but I want to have a little chat with your vampire friend. He’s been around long enough that he may know some useful information about Rittenhouse.”

She supposes Denise has a point, though she’s not sure that Flynn will be much help. She’s also not sure what she’s walking into. For him to not want to talk on the phone about whatever happened, indicates that something bad occurred. She just hopes he didn’t murder someone in the interim.


	10. The Doll in the Mirror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jessica’s connection to Rittenhouse is revealed.

It surprises him that Jessica knows about Rittenhouse. He’s hoping that she’ll explain how and why she knows about them, though. Although they’ve been an influential vampire family for more than a millennia, they tend to keep a low public profile. Instead, they prefer to sculpt and shape the world from the shadows, manipulating humans and creatures alike as if they were merely puppets in a play.

He’s knows for a fact that a few Rittenhouse Family members have run over the centuries. Their reaction to rogue family members depends on the year and the head of the family’s mercurial nature. He’s heard stories of some of them being hunted down and drug back to the family. He’s also heard stories of them being hunted down and killed, as well as stories where they did nothing and let them be.

It appears that option three is out of the question considering the dead vampire at his feet. They’ve come for someone or they’ve come looking for someone. For everyone in this town’s sake, they need to figure this out and figure it out quickly.

“Uh, can someone please tell me what Rittenhouse is and why exactly they’re a nightmare?” Rufus questions.

Jessica stares back at him, clearly not wanting to answer the question.

“Rittenhouse is a family of pureblood vampires who, under the guise of philanthropy, have their grubby little fangs in everything. They’re pretty much the dominant superpower of the supernatural world,” Jessica answers tersely.

“That doesn’t sound _that_ bad,” Rufus retorts.

“Oh, it’s not as long as you agree to pledge your unwavering loyalty to them and their twisted sense of superiority over the rest of the human and creature world alike.”

“Okay, that’s definitely bad,” Rufus replies.

“You’re not a vampire, so how do you know about Rittenhouse?” he questions.

He doesn’t want to be rude and insult Jessica, nor does he want to out her in front of Connor and Ernie, but it doesn’t make sense that Rittenhouse would be interested in a shapeshifter. _What purpose would that serve?_

“No, I’m not. But Rittenhouse isn’t just interested in vampires, like I said before,” Jessica explains.

“What would they want with a shapeshifter?” Rufus questions.

“Ex-excuse me, a what now?” Ernie blurts out.

Jessica glares at Rufus with a menacing scowl. Rufus shrugs his shoulders in response.

“Can you think of a better way to gain access into places that are well guarded, or to have certain individuals act the way you want them to?”

“Never mind. It’s not important. Right now, we need to dispose of this guy and figure out how to find Lucy,” he advises.

He’s still not sure he can trust this Jessica, at least, not until he hears about the extent of her involvement with Rittenhouse. He’s heard stories about how they’re puppet masters for a lot of vampires and government officials, but he’s never heard about them being involved with other supernatural creatures. If they are, there could be a whole host of other problems heading their way.

“Jiya should’ve been here by now.”

“Did you hear from her again?” Rufus asks with anticipation.

 _Damn, Teen Wolf really does have it bad for Sabrina, doesn’t he?_

“She should be here any minute,” he responds as he glances around.

“We still haven’t decided what we’re doing with this guy,” Jessica reminds them.

Suddenly, a vehicle comes flying down the access road. Flynn bares his fangs, ready to spring into action at the drop of a hat.

“ _Great_. It’s the fuzz,” Connor mutters.

The vehicle stops a few feet from Connor and Ernie, who are currently the furthest away from the corpse on the ground. Jessica sidles over in front of Rufus and he stands directly in front of the body.

“What the hell is going on here?” Denise demands as she exits the vehicle.

“Rufus? What happened?” Jiya asks with a tinge of panic in her voice.

Jiya ignores the rest of them and goes directly to Rufus. She grabs at his torn shirt sleeve, caressing the fabric as it slips between her fingers before she releases it. _Gross. Watching Jiya with Rufus is like watching your little sister flirt with the guy she’s got a crush on._

Rufus is about to answer when he takes a step forward. Both Jiya and Denise can now easily see the body on the ground.

“ _This_ guy just got attacked by a vampire and lived to tell the tale,” he brags, as he clamps his hand down hard on Rufus’ shoulder.

“What! Oh my goddess, Rufus are you alright?”

“I’m-I’m fine. Thanks to Flynn over there,” Rufus replies as he swallows hard.

He can tell it’s bothering Rufus to pretend that he saved his life, but the alternative of telling the truth would out his secret. He flashes him a wry grin with just the slightest bit of fang showing. Rufus wrinkles his nose up and looks like he wants to smack him right now, but Jiya’s affections towards him are distracting to say the least.

Denise’s police instincts kick in and she strolls over and crouches down right next to the body. She removes the gun from its holster and his cell phone from his pocket. He hands her the guy’s wallet and badge that he took earlier. Their eyes meet a second later. He knows that look even if he barely knows Denise. It’s the look of two law enforcement professionals who recognize one of their own has just committed a heinous atrocity. 

Denise stands back up, flicks her wrist toward the corpse, then casually strolls back to her unmarked police car. A second later, the vampire’s body bursts into flames behind him. He hops forward slightly to avoid the flames singeing him. Rufus and Jessica are dumbstruck, Jiya doesn’t even bat an eyelash, and Ernie and Connor are too busy passing the flask back and forth to notice. _Alright then._

Denise deposits the dead vampire’s items into the trunk of her car, then ambles back towards the group.

“We need to have a talk. All of us,” Denise commands.

“Oh, no. I want no part of this chicanery,” Connor declares with a flamboyant wave of his arms. “Come on Ernie, let’s go see if another bar in this weird town will actually serve us.”

“And miss this adventure? Absolutely not! This is gonna make for one hell of a story by the end of it. I just know it,” Ernie exclaims enthusiastically.

“We should go somewhere else to regroup. There’s no telling if there are more vampires out there or not,” Jessica suggests.

“The officers should be done processing the bar by this point. We can discuss this further there,” Denise informs them.

“Great. I have a change of clothes in my locker,” Rufus states happily.

The vampire’s body turns to ash and Denise extinguishes the fire.

“Let’s go. I can only take a few of you in my vehicle. The rest of you will have to walk,” Denise advises.

“Shotgun!” Ernie yells as he runs towards the car.

“I’m way too drunk to be traipsing through the woods,” Connor announces, as he stumbles towards the vehicle.

“I’ve got room for two more.”

“Take Rufus and Jessica. I need to speak to Jiya,” he informs her.

Rufus seems a little disappointed in his suggestion, but climbs into the back seat with Connor and Jessica. Denise does a U-turn and then speeds down the access road.

“What do you need to talk to me about?” Jiya asks.

“We’ll talk on the way. Get on,” he instructs her as he bends down slightly. 

“Get on what?”

“My _back_.”

“You want me to climb on your back?” she questions with a raise of her eyebrows.

“If we piggyback, we’ll get there faster, which gives us more time to talk.”

Jiya still appears apprehensive, but exhales loudly and climbs onto his back. She squeezes her legs around his waist as he speeds into the forest. They’re moving so fast that his feet are barely even touching the ground. He’s used to running at vampire super speed, but Jiya isn’t, so he tries his best to avoid making any tight turns so that tree branches won’t hit her in the face.

Up the ridge they go, then down through the hollow, before they crest a hill and arrive at the pub. Normally, most people get kinda freaked out about traveling at that sort of speed, but Jiya looks like she just took the best rollercoaster ride of her life. He half expects her to ask him to go again like a child that just rode a pony at the zoo. 

He sets her down on her feet, then leans down to whisper into her ear.

“Once Denise gets the cops out of here, I need you to do a spell,” he informs her.

“What kind of spell?”

“I need you to check for listening devices or spells that would allow them to view or listen in on what we’re planning,” he explains.

“You think there’s something in the bar?”

“I’m not sure. Oh, if you can, we should also check Lucy’s apartment,” he suggests.

She nods in agreement. They wait in the woods near the pub until they spot Denise’s car pull into the parking lot. Denise relieves the two officers from their watch, then allows the remainder of them to enter the pub. 

“Why did you leave the police tape up?” Rufus questions.

“To give us more privacy,” Denise replies, as she glances around once more before shutting the door.

Jiya performs her spell to search for devices, while he and Denise physically search for them. 

“I found one in Lucy’s office,” Denise advises.

“And one behind the bar,” he adds.

“There’s one in her bedroom,” Jiya informs them.

“Where?”

“In the ceiling fan,” Jiya replies.

He darts up the back stairs, then remembers he doesn’t have a key.

“Hey Rufus or Jess, does Lucy keep a spare key to her apartment downstairs?” he yells.

“Yeah, I’ll grab it,” Jess calls back to him.

A few minutes later, Jess jogs up the stairs and hands him Lucy’s spare key. He unlocks the door and heads directly to the ceiling fan in the living room. Even at his height, he needs to grab a chair to reach it. He pulls the bug out and crushes it in the palm of his hand. Whoever was listening in on Lucy sure didn’t catch much conversation from him, but they definitely heard their fair share of Lucy’s squealing and his grunting.

He locks the apartment door again and pockets the key before rejoining the rest of the group in the bar. Jiya is sitting sideways in one of the booths, Connor and Ernie are on their barstools and Jessica and Denise are sitting in chairs facing the booth. Rufus reappears from the kitchen, now clad in a gray hoodie and sweatpants.

He really wants to speak to Jiya alone so that he can obtain the coordinates and go after Lucy. But, he can’t leave without warning her about Rittenhouse. To do so would not only be selfish, but would be downright irresponsible.

None of them are saying anything right now. They’re all just staring at each other, well, everyone except Connor and Ernie, who are sitting at the bar drinking as if nothing out of the ordinary was occurring.

“Start at the beginning of how you got involved with Rittenhouse, Jess,” he states in a commanding tone.

He’s done pussyfooting around.

“Wait, _you_ were involved with Rittenhouse?” Denise questions with a raise of her eyebrow.

He huffs loudly in annoyance. They can’t afford to play catch up right now. They need to enact a plan and they need to do it now.

“When I was little, my brother got sick with leukemia. The doctors told my parents there wasn’t anything they could do. Then one day, these two women approached my parents with the chance for a brand-new treatment that could save my brother’s life. They naturally jumped on the offer. I’m not sure if they fully understood what they wanted in return or not, but I wouldn’t put it past them to have still gone through with it even if they did,” Jessica explains.

“What did they want?” Rufus questions curiously.

“Me.”

“You? As in, they took you?” Rufus asks.

“Not at first. At first they acted with benevolence. They told my parents I was special and that they could help me with my ‘problem’.”

“Your _problem_?” Jiya inquires.

“My abilities.”

“What abilities?” Denise demands.

That familiar dull shimmer glistens over Jessica’s body. When it dissipates, a carbon copy of Denise is standing where Jessica was. Denise jumps up from her chair, clearly visibly upset, then pulls her weapon on Jessica.

“What-what the hell are you?”

He grabs Denise’s arm and lowers the gun down slowly.

“She’s a shapeshifter. Put the gun away. She’s not a threat to you,” he instructs.

Denise carefully holsters her weapon, but moves her chair away from Jessica before sitting back down. Jessica changes back into her own body, then continues her story about her Rittenhouse entanglement.

“They made me a shapeshifter and then used that to freak my parents out so they would turn me back over to Rittenhouse. I never wanted this. I wasn’t given a choice. They had a witch put me under a spell so that I wouldn’t fight back. Then they performed some ritual on me before they murdered me. It was horrifying. I was awake for the entire ritual. I felt everything they did, but I was paralyzed to move. When I woke up, I was in this locked room with all these creepy dolls. I felt changed, but I didn’t know in what way. Honestly, I was just happy to be breathing, but after what they did to me, I shouldn’t have been. I checked myself over in the mirror. The next thing I know, my reflection is no longer visible. The only thing in the mirror is one of the creepy dolls, yet none of them were ever moved,” Jessica reveals.

Rufus shivers and Jiya grabs his hand and squeezes.

“It took a while for me to accept what they had done and to gain control of it. I quickly realized that the better I was at shifting, the more freedom Rittenhouse allowed. The more I pretended to buy into their bullshit, the more they trusted me. So, I secretly planned my escape for a long time, then finally saw my opportunity and took it. I’ve been on the run ever since.”

“So, you’re saying they turned you into their own creepy doll? Fascinating,” Ernie blurts out from the bar as he makes notations in his little note pad.

They all collectively roll their eyes.

“That’s why you thought I was after you when we first met,” he admits, as he puts the puzzle pieces together.

“Yeah. I thought they finally found me,” Jessica responds.

“We still don’t know if they’re searching for you or me,” he states.

“Or Lucy,” Jiya adds.

“Did you ever meet Lucy before you came to Salem?” Denise questions.

“No. I only ever dealt with a few of them. As far as I know, they weren’t very high in the pecking order.”

“So, how the hell are we supposed to find out which one of you is the target?” Rufus complains.

They all stare at each other once again. No one has any ideas how to proceed at the moment; well, not any goods ideas obviously.

“What if I did a spell on the dead vampire’s belongings? See if I can get something from that?” Denise suggests.

“Sounds-”

“Yoo hoo! Lucy! I know you’re in there!” a woman’s voice screams from outside. “Come on, Princess. Come out and _play_ ,” she singsongs.

“Do you know her?” he asks Jessica.

She nods her head in response.

“Her name’s Emma; Emma Whitmore.”


	11. Bird's-Eye View

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group faces Emma and enacts a plan to try and find Lucy.

“Loocy! Come on out, Princess,” Emma calls again.

They all glance around nervously. Rufus peeks out the window and confirms that Emma appears to be standing in the driveway alone.

“We need to make sure she actually _is_ alone, before any of us go out there,” Flynn cautions.

“I can help with that,” Jessica advises.

“How?” Denise questions.

“It’s not just humans that I can mimic, remember?” she replies. 

They watch in awe as she shifts into the shape of a barn owl. She flaps around the bar area for a moment before she flies towards the kitchen. Rufus quickly follows after her, opening the door to the kitchen area moments before she flies through. Flynn trails after them, reminding Rufus that they need to use both of their collective heightened senses to make sure they’re not about to be ambushed the second they open the back door.

She perches precariously on Flynn’s forearm, as Rufus takes a few big sniffs around the door.

“Smell anything?” Flynn questions.

“Besides you and Lucy?” Rufus answers flippantly.

Flynn glares back at him, not even dignifying this ridiculous question with a response.

She really wishes they would bicker later. The longer she remains an owl, the harder it will be to fight off the animal’s instinctual urges.

“No. Do you?”

Flynn shoves Rufus to the side, takes a deep breath, then listens intently at the door. Vampires can’t smell as well or as far as werewolves can, but they can smell better than an average human.

“I smell Emma out front and the one we killed earlier, but nothing else,” Flynn advises.

“Maybe we should let Jess out the window in Lucy’s office instead of the door. If someone is out there watching, they’re probably honed in on the door,” Rufus suggests.

“Good idea.”

They shuffle into Lucy’s office and Rufus opens up the window as well as the screen. She flies right from Flynn’s arm and out the window a second later. She soars directly up into the tallest tree that is close to the office. She uses the tree for its vantage point, as well as cover. She chose an owl because they have large enough eyes to spot the tiniest of prey from a good distance, but also because they can rotate their heads 270° around. They can see 360° without having to move their talons or feet. She doesn’t spot anyone in the vicinity of the door, so she takes flight and moves to the west.

As she lands in the tree, she spots movement from the brush below. The vampire also senses the movement of her flight, but dismisses her as a non-threat immediately. She’s never seen this particular vampire before at Rittenhouse. He’s tall and clean-cut, with dark brown hair and has a classic jock vibe.

She glides again out of the tree, this time to the east. She doesn’t even need to make it to a tree before she spots another vampire. This one, she knows. He goes by the name, John Booth, but she’s not sure if it’s his real name or not. Plenty of vampires go by different names for protective reasons, especially if they remain in one area for a long period of time. Humans tend to notice an individual who doesn’t age, so the more they can change their appearances and their names, the better.

Booth is an over-the-top individual, who constantly revels in the drama he causes. She had to work with him on a few heists Rittenhouse had them pull. 

She flies back around to the tallest tree she can find and scans one more time. After she doesn’t see any other vampires in the area, she zooms back to the bar. She taps her beak on the window until Rufus opens it back up. She flies through, once more landing on Flynn’s forearm. A moment later, she shifts back into her human form.

“There’s two more on the outskirts of the property. They’re in a triangular configuration,” she advises.

Flynn can’t take all three vampires by himself. Rufus and she could help him, but it would still be difficult for the three of them to accomplish. Jiya and Denise could prove to be helpful as well, but there’s way too much potential for them to get injured or worse here. They need to come up with another plan.

“What if I just go out there and tell Emma Lucy took off?” Flynn questions aloud.

“Lucy! Oh, come on. It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other last,” Emma begins shouting again. “I was tracking another traitor to our kind. Imagine my surprise when he led me to you.”

The entire group crane their necks as they stare over at Flynn. He led Rittenhouse to Lucy. However, they obviously don’t have her yet or Emma wouldn’t be out there taunting Lucy to come and face her.

“Alright then! If you’re not interesting in defending your turf, how about that boy toy of yours?” Emma taunts.

Flynn growls slightly. She can see how upset he is knowing he led them to Lucy. 

“What are we going to do?” Jiya asks with wide eyes.

“I have an idea,” she states, “but I’m pretty sure you’re not going to like it, Flynn.”

“You’re right, I hate this idea,” Flynn declares, as she opens the door to the freezer.

“If they can’t smell you, they may actually believe you’re not here,” she explains.

“And if something goes wrong, I’m gonna be stuck in cold storage,” Flynn sasses.

“I have no idea what Lucy ever saw in you,” she huffs, as she gives him a little push inside the freezer.

“Must be my huge-”

“La la la la. Not listening!” she yells, as she begins to close the door.

“Fangs,” he laughs.

 _What an ass_! She shuts the freezer door and goes back out into the bar area. She shifts again, this time into a powerful witch she once knew in San Diego. Denise and Jiya join her side and the three of them open the front door. 

Emma raises an eyebrow when she sees the three of them. She definitely didn’t expect to have to deal with three witches.

“Lucy isn’t here. She took off a few days ago,” Denise states tersely.

“Well, where did she go?” Emma retorts.

“Don’t know, don’t really care. You need to leave. Your kind isn’t welcome here,” Denise warns.

“Where’s Flynn?” Emma questions.

“He left the day after he arrived. I told him the same thing I’m telling you. It’s time to leave…before we make you.”

Emma snorts as the other two vampires file in behind her.

“I’ll play nice…for now,” Emma states with a smirk. “Tell Lucy I’ll be back tomorrow at sundown. Oh, and if you do see Flynn, tell him I’d like to have a chat with him as well.”

Denise grabs Jess and Jiya’s hands and summons a hurricane force wind. Denise blows out a large breath, as if she was inflating a balloon and the three vampires go flying into the abandoned lot across the road.

The three vampires get back up, brush themselves off and speed off into the night. Her plan worked; at least for now it did. Denise and Jiya reenter the pub, while she takes one last look around. She knows how lethal and ruthless Emma can be and she needs to impress that fact upon the rest of them. She knows that Emma won’t give up that easily.

As soon as she goes back inside, she can hear banging coming from inside the kitchen.

“Can I please go let Lestat out of the freezer before he breaks the door?” Rufus quips.

She nods back at Rufus and he practically sprints into the kitchen and lets Flynn out. 

When Flynn stalks back into the room, his long, dark locks are tinged with frosty white streaks. He’s not shivering, but she wasn’t really expecting him to. Cold doesn’t affect vampires at all.

“Well? What the hell happened?” Flynn growls.

After they explain to Flynn what went down, the entire lot of them begin brainstorming on their plan of attack.

“Jiya and I will meet back up with the coven. We’ll put up a barrier around the town to prevent any more of them from getting inside,” Denise advises.

“You need to let us know the second you find Lucy and get back within the city limits so we can perform the spell,” Jiya adds.

Flynn nods in response before shrugging on his leather jacket.

“You both ready?” Flynn asks Jessica and Rufus.

“Do I have a choice in the matter?” Rufus quips back.

“Not helping,” she replies, as she rolls her eyes.

It’s been decided that Rufus and Flynn will accompany her to the GPS coordinates Jiya gave them. Rufus will serve as the getaway driver, because he still hasn’t come clean to the rest of their ragtag team about how helpful he could really be. She understands the feeling. It’s not easy to tell humans you’re a supernatural creature. Try as they might, they’ll always look at you differently after that. She doesn’t want that for Rufus. He’s already without a pack (as far as she knows anyway). She doesn’t want to scare Jiya off when the two of them are so _obviously_ into each other.

“Alright, let’s go,” Flynn commands.

Rufus grabs the keys to his car and she bends down and picks Winchester up. He licks and kisses her face and she pats his head as she tucks him into her jacket.

“Uh, maybe you should leave him here?” Flynn suggests.

“And let drunk and drunker watch him? Not a chance,” she replies with a wave of her hand.

“Oh, come on Jess. I think we’re capable of watching a little Yorkie for a few hours,” Connor slurs.

“The last time I let you watch him, you gave him beer. I had to let him out to piss like a hundred times that night.”

“Ernie gave him the beer. I swear on Her Majesty’s life that I won’t get your dog drunk,” Connor announces as he crosses his heart.

“Don’t listen to him Jess. He’s constantly griping about the old bat and how she ruined the royal family. Plus, I’m not the one who gave Winchester _tequila_ ,” Ernie replies, as he glares at Connor.

She doesn’t even respond verbally, just gives them the finger and strolls out the front door. Denise and Jiya depart to meet back up with their coven and she and the boys climb into Rufus’ Nissan.

“ _This_ is your getaway vehicle?” Flynn gripes as he shuts the passenger door. “I could kick Jiya for making me leave my car back at her place.”

“Hey, hey, hey! No kicking of the Jiya!”

“Alright, Romeo. Let’s get a move on then,” Flynn grumbles.

They drive towards the coordinates, exiting the city limits about ten minutes later. They continue driving in the direction Jiya gave them.

“I don’t see any roads that lead that way. It’s all just forest as far as the eye can see,” Rufus complains, as they drive further away from the coordinates.

“Turn around. We had to have missed it,” Flynn instructs.

“If we still can’t find anything, I can shift and fly around to take a look,” she suggests.

“Even if we do find it, I think that’s a good idea anyway,” Flynn replies.

Rufus performs one hell of a U-turn (in her opinion anyway) and they speed back down the road. Rufus slows down and pulls over to the side once they reach the general area of Jiya’s coordinates. They all exit the vehicle and begin searching for a break in the brush that they might have missed the first time. She leaves the boys to it, shifts back into a barn owl and takes off. She flies over the tall pines and fields of crops until she reaches another heavily wooded area.

Still not seeing anything except for trees in her field of vision, Jess flies further into the heart of the forest. She’s just about to give up and go back to the car when she spots a tiny puff of smoke billowing up through the majestic pines. She circles back and lands in the nearest pine tree for a better vantage point. It’s so well hidden, she almost misses it completely. If it weren’t for the chimney smoke, she would have. A tiny log cabin sits nestled among the trees, blending seamlessly with its natural camouflage. An old Chevy Nova sits towards the back of the cabin. The tread marks in the mud confirm that the car recently drove through here. She flies from the tree and passes by the front of the cabin as close to the windows as she can. Unfortunately, the curtains are drawn and she can’t see anything.

She soars back towards the vehicle, when she spots Flynn and Rufus creeping along a dirt path. She swoops down, but misjudges the distance and lands awkwardly on Flynn’s head. Her talons dig into his scalp as she steadies herself, which elicits a hiss and a swipe from her new vampire acquaintance. 

She quickly shifts back into her human self.

“There’s a cabin down the road here. I couldn’t see inside, but there’s a car with fresh tracks in the mud outside. Someone’s definitely here,” she explains.

Flynn bares his fangs a second later, as a hardened expression overtakes his face.

“I will drain whoever took her to within an inch of their life,” Flynn threatens.

“I’m surprised you wouldn’t just tear them limb from limb,” she muses aloud.

“They deserve a long, slow, excruciating death…and I plan to give it to them.”

His threats send a shiver down her spine. He’s absolutely terrifying and she is _very_ glad she’s not going to be on the receiving end of his unbridled rage.

“So, uh, what’s the plan exactly?” Rufus asks.

She’s happy for the interruption, because they all need to have a clear head while they iron out this plan.

“Have the car waiting about half way down this road. We don’t know how many of them are in there, so be ready, Rufus. We may need to make a hasty exit,” Flynn advises. “Jess, go around the back and make sure no one tries to make a run for it out one of the windows. If I need help, I’ll yell for you.”

“Gotcha. I’m gonna shift into something a little more menacing than an owl,” she informs them.

She closes her eyes and draws a mental picture of the image she wants to shift into. It’s literally that easy for her now, but that wasn’t always the case. She shifts and changes into the most intimidating thing she can think of at the moment; in other words, one Garcia Flynn himself. Flynn and Rufus are both staring at her slack-jawed right now. Jess is quite proud of herself at the moment. The only discernible difference between the two of them is that Flynn’s fangs are visible. She decides to try out her new choppers herself and bares her fangs.

“Oh hell no!” Rufus exclaims with a dramatic wave of his hand. “One of him is _more_ than enough. I’m going to get the car.”

He stomps off down the dusty road into the darkness.

“You ready?” she asks.

Flynn still appears slightly uneasy with the fact that someone who looks and sounds exactly like him is standing before his eyes. He nods in acknowledgment and moves into position near the front door.

She speeds around the back of the cabin and waits. Since she’s effectively a vampire at the moment, she’ll be able to hear Flynn enter the cabin, as well as what’s going on inside. She waits and listens intently. A few seconds later, she hears Flynn crash through the front door of the cabin. _Show time._


	12. Sanguinem Ebrius Est

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy and Wyatt receive visitors.

Lucy sorts through the documents and photos that are on Wyatt’s computer.

“What about this guy?” Wyatt asks her.

“No, I don’t know him.”

She clicks to the next picture and stops dead in her tracks.

“Him-him I know,” Lucy advises as she turns the computer closer to Wyatt. “He goes by the name Ryan Millerson. He specializes in driving. Doesn’t matter if it’s a heist or evasive maneuvers, if you need a driver, he’s your guy.”

She clicks to the next picture.

“You know him too?” Wyatt questions as he leans closer to her.

“Booth. What a drama queen,” she replies as she rolls her eyes.

She keeps clicking through the next four photos, but doesn’t recognize any more of them.

“Which one do you think they sent for me?”

“The first one. That’s the one I tracked here. I initially had no clue why he would dare to come here, but then I followed him and saw you…”

Lucy turns to stare into Wyatt’s eyes.

“If you followed him to me, why didn’t he grab me first?” she asks.

“Too many witnesses around at the time?”

She shakes her head. She knows that can’t be the reason. There’s something else going on here. She just has to figure out the connection.

“You obviously don’t know Rittenhouse very well. They’d murder a mob of people if they had to. No, there’s something I’m missing,” she muses.

“Why are they after you, Lucy?” Wyatt inquires.

“Because I ran,” she answers hastily.

She doesn’t want to tell him it’s because she’s the last Rittenhouse heir; the one family member who has yet to procreate and further the Rittenhouse dynasty. Actually, she’s beyond shocked that her mother triggered her pureblood gene before she had children. Rittenhouse is all about perpetuating the family bloodline. Lucy likens it to being just like those pedigree dogs in those dog shows; spoiled, pampered and mostly for show.

“Where’s the rest of this list you found?” she asks in order to change the subject.

“Unfortunately, the vampire I took it from ripped it while we were struggling. I looked for it, but I couldn’t find it. I don’t know if it blew away, got buried or he ate it.”

“What about the two names above mine?”

“Both dead,” Wyatt replies.

She scowls back at him and he raises his hands in defense. 

“Whoa! Whoa! I had nothing to do with it. That Neville guy got there first, I swear!” Wyatt exclaims.

All of a sudden, her vampire hearing picks up a vehicle coming down the road towards the cabin.

“Lucy-”

“Shh! Shh!” she yells.

“What? What is it?”

“Someone’s coming.”

She tries to listen even harder and picks up the sound of two heartbeats. A beating heart means that the people approaching are mortal. She can’t imagine that Rittenhouse would send humans to apprehend her when they already sent a vampire, so she’s not sure who could be out there.

Wyatt’s still a bit groggy from his blood loss, but he draws his weapon and points it at the door. Lucy bares her fangs and poises for an attack. They’ll certainly give whoever this is one hell of a fight.

A moment later, the door crashes open and a blur shoots right by her. She doesn’t even have a second to process what is happening before Wyatt discharges his gun. The gunshot snaps her to attention and she realizes that Wyatt’s assailant is Flynn. She dives onto his back as quick as lightning, knocking him far enough to the left to allow Wyatt to flinch in fear the opposite way.

“Flynn! Stop!”

He throws her off of his back with such force that she flies across the room and slams into the bottom of the door with a resounding thump. Her skull cracks against the door frame, momentarily stunning her.

When she glances back up, Flynn is hoisting Wyatt into the air with one hand around his throat. Wyatt is gasping for air, desperately clawing at Flynn’s hand to remove it. Flynn bashes Wyatt into the table, which cracks and breaks under the stress of such force. He grabs Wyatt by the throat again and is about to repeat the entire process when suddenly another figure rushes into the cabin. Lucy blinks hard as she stares at another Garcia Flynn standing above her. At first she thinks she’s just seeing double from a slight concussion, but then the second Flynn opens his mouth and she knows she must have really injured her head.

“Wyatt?” the second Flynn asks.

The other Flynn is about to slam an semi-conscious Wyatt once more when Lucy leaps forward and jumps onto his back. Nothing she has done has worked to stop him so far. He’ll kill Wyatt if he continues at this pace, so she sinks her fangs into his neck. She sucks wildly as she runs her hands through his hair. 

Finally, he drops Wyatt from his grasp, then stumbles forward and braces himself with his left hand on the wall of the cabin. If he were human, she would’ve drained him dry at the rate she’s sucking, but he’s not. She can literally feel the rage inside him subsiding as she drinks. She knows imbibing this much vampire blood will leave her drunk as a skunk, but she doesn’t care right now.

Flynn’s knees wobble and buckle and he stumbles to the ground. Lucy is still attached to his back and neck like a lioness taking down a zebra on the savanna.

“Stop! Please, stop!” he calls out in an almost-whisper.

Lucy detaches from his neck, then slowly climbs off of Flynn’s back. She turns around to see the “other” Flynn standing over Wyatt, who is finally stirring back to the world of the living. Blood drips down her fangs and mouth as she slowly approaches the second Flynn. She can feel the rage coursing through her veins from Flynn’s blood, but she can’t quell it no matter how hard she tries.

“Who are you?” she bellows as she stalks even closer.

“Lucy, it’s-”

She doesn’t let the impostor finish. She grips his shirt in the middle of his chest with both hands and yanks him into the air. It takes all her strength just to get him a few inches off the ground. All she can think about is tearing this impostor limb from limb. It shocks her to her core that she could be this violent right now over a man that she spent one glorious night with, but it’s not completely out of character for who she was in the past. Even though she’s cognizant of the fact, she still can’t seem to control the overwhelming wave of fury raging inside her. 

She’s about to tear out the impostor’s throat, when someone grabs her waist from behind and pulls her back. As soon as she lets go of Flynn number two’s shirt, his body becomes a shimmering blur and Jessica appears before her eyes a second later. Shocked doesn’t even begin to cut it. Lucy truly believes that she’s now hallucinating from all the vampire blood coursing through her veins at the moment.

“H-how?”

“Hey, Luce,” Jessica replies. “Glad to see that you’re alive and well and that our mutual acquaintance over here stopped you from ripping my throat out.”

“How is this possible?”

“She’s a shapeshifter,” Flynn answers as he spins her around to face him. “Now, can you tell me why you pulled me off your abductor over here?”

“Wait,” Lucy states with a shake of her head.

She spins back around to Jessica and finally wipes the blood from her mouth as she retracts her fangs.

“How the hell do you know his name?” Lucy questions Jessica.

“It’s a long story that we _really_ don’t have time for right now. We need to get you back to Salem before the witches lock us all out for good,” Jessica advises.

“What the hell are you talking about? I get along fine with the witches,” Lucy responds as even more confusion sets in.

“You _did_. Now…”

“I-I don’t understand,” Lucy states.

She feels a hand lightly caress her shoulder.

“Draga, we’ll explain everything on the way, I swear. Right now, we need to meet back up with Rufus and haul ass back to Salem,” Flynn states softly.

Lucy brushes his hand off of her shoulder. She has no clue what’s going on right now and it’s driving her nuts that she can’t think clearly. _Why is he here? He left without so much as a note and now he’s here defending her honor or whatever the hell he thinks this is. And, did he just call her a dragon?_

“You dragged Rufus into this mess?” Lucy blurts out.

Her head is running a mile a minute, which in all actuality is not unusual for her, but she’s picking up only bits and pieces. This can only mean one thing. She’s blood drunk. She tries to turn back around to yell at Flynn for dragging her friend into this nightmare, but she stumbles and falls clumsily into Flynn’s chest.

“You’re blood drunk, draga. Come here,” he whispers softly as he pulls her into his arms.

Her feet are no longer on the ground a minute later. Flynn carries her in his arms out the door and practically flies down the road to the waiting car.

“Wait! Don’t forget Wyatt. I need him!” Lucy cries out.

Flynn continues to gently guide her into the back seat of the vehicle, acting as if he didn’t hear her. She knows he did though. That’s one thing about being a vampire; you can’t claim you didn’t hear something, because you most certainly did.

“I’ll get him,” Jessica calls back from the front door of the cabin.

“And the research!” Lucy exclaims.

She can sense someone around her now, which she assumes is Flynn, but her eyesight is still blurry.

“Is she alright? What’s wrong with her?” she hears Rufus ask.

“Rufus, you smell funny,” she mutters as she dozes in and out of consciousness.

“You look funny, girl,” Rufus snarks.

This isn’t the first time she’s been blood drunk, but this is the worst it’s ever felt. Lucy is struggling to come to grips with what is happening, as well as her feelings on the entire matter. Flynn is cradling her in his large arms, gently stroking her hair in an attempt to calm her.

“She’s blood drunk, Rufus. She’ll be fine in a little while,” Flynn answers.

Jessica reappears a few moments later, as Flynn number two, with a screaming Wyatt in her arms and a laptop bag slung over her shoulder.

“Pop the trunk Rufus!” Jessica yells as she approaches the vehicle.

Lucy can hear the trunk open, then feels the weight of Wyatt’s body as Jessica dumps him inside. She hears the trunk close then watches as Flynn number two climbs into the passenger seat.

Rufus doesn’t even wait until she shuts the door before he shifts the car into drive and speeds down the dirt road.

“Can you please change back to your normal self? I told you before, one of him is more than enough,” Rufus jokes.

Jessica shifts back into her normal appearance, then turns to Rufus.

“Better?”

He nods, then tells them to hold on as he pushes the pedal to the metal as they race back towards Salem. 

“We’re almost there. Hold on,” Rufus advises as they speed around a turn.

“Jess, call Jiya. Tell her to do the spell the second we pass the borders of the city,” Flynn instructs from the back seat.

Jessica grabs her phone and calls Jiya.

“Jiya?” Lucy mumbles in confusion.

Flynn caresses her hair and kisses her forehead.

“Yes, moja ljubav. All of your friends are helping,” Flynn whispers into her ear.

“Moya? Who’s Moya?”

Flynn chuckles as he kisses her forehead again.

“Rest, draga. Rest.”

She’s still quite angry at him, yet she curls and folds her body into his, allowing the comfort and safety he’s providing to seep into her skin. He continues to whisper into her ear for the duration of the ride, yet she has no clue what “lijep” or “očaravajući” mean.

She truly believed she would never see him again, that he cared so little about her, that she was just another notch in his belt of conquests. Yet, he holds and caresses her as if he cherishes her above all others. Perhaps their connection is real, and it is the reason he returned to find her. Perhaps he is actually Rittenhouse and has come to haul her back to her family after lulling her into a false sense of security. It would explain why he went after Wyatt so furiously. He could have found out Wyatt was here to warn her. Or, perhaps she is still drunk and hallucinating. Only time will tell now.

Sometime later, she overhears Jessica talking on her phone.

“Jiya, do it now. We’re within the city limits. Do it now!” Jessica urges.

“Do what now?” Lucy questions as she gazes up into Flynn’s eyes.

“A spell that’s will keep us all safe,” he answers as he circles her jawline with his thumb.

“For now, at least,” Rufus mutters from the front seat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations:
> 
> Sanguinem Ebrius Est-Latin for Blood Drunk
> 
> Draga-Croatian for darling.
> 
> Moja ljubav-Croatian for my love.
> 
> Lijep-Croatian for beautiful.
> 
> Očaravajući-Croatian for enchanting.


	13. The Curse of Winchester

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy recovers from her drunken episode and reveals to the group why Rittenhouse is after her.

Words cannot express his relief at finding Lucy unharmed. Words also cannot express the magnitude of his fury when he saw Lucy’s captor. The thought of someone harming her sent him into a tailspin that he was not quick to recover from. And, just when he felt as if he had gone too far, the fucker went and shot him twice. Still, he would take being shot a thousand times if it means Lucy is safe.

Now, as he holds her semi-conscious body in his arms, he knows that she is his purpose in life. He will protect her until his dying breath, even if she does not love him. She could very well want nothing to do with him and he wouldn’t blame her one bit. Even if that is the case, he will not abandon her. He will lurk amongst the shadows and watch over her for the remainder of his days. He will destroy the entire Rittenhouse family if that is what it will take.

As he caresses her cheek with his thumb, he whispers terms of endearment in his native language. He did not want to admit his feelings to her so soon without knowing how she feels in return, but he was unable to hold his tongue. He knows she wasn’t coherent when he said it, nor is she fluent in Croatian, so he’s pretty confident she has no clue what just happened.

When they arrive back at the pub, Jess and Rufus help Lucy out of the back seat, while he supports her from behind. She’s still completely out of it, so the second he exits the vehicle he sweeps her up into his arms and carries her up the stairs. Jess holds the front door of the pub open and he carefully guards Lucy’s head as he ducks inside.

“You found her!” Ernie exclaims as he practically falls from his barstool.

“Clear off the pool table!” he barks at Rufus.

Rufus and Jess remove the balls from the table and he lays her down gently on top. For a split second, a wry smirk crosses his face. He vividly remembers the last time he did this, and he wishes more than anything he was doing that right now instead of watching her suffer because of him. This is all his fault and the guilt he feels will surely eat away at him.

“Rufus, grab some warm water and a clean towel or dishrag,” he orders.

“Will she be alright?” Connor asks.

“In a little while.”

“Good, because that redheaded bitch will be back before you know it,” Connor reminds him.

Lucy is just beginning to stir when Rufus brings over the bowl of water and a hand towel. He cradles the back of Lucy’s head and assists her as she sits up. Her head isn’t actively bleeding anymore, but he dips the towel into the water and gingerly begins to wipe the dried blood from her forehead anyway. Maybe he’s using this as an excuse to touch her again, but he can’t help himself. She pulls him in like a moth to a flame.

“Easy, draga.”

Lucy groans loudly, then gazes around the pub. He continues to wipe off the remainder of the blood on her, even though he’s covered in it himself. He also currently has two bullets stuck in him that he’s been unable to work out. Normally, if he had been at his full strength, he would’ve been able to push them out of his body without a problem. Unfortunately, when Lucy almost drained him completely, he was substantially weakened. Without a feed, he doesn’t have the strength or energy to push them out on his own. He honestly can’t even comprehend how he managed to carry her in the pub.

“What happened?” she questions as she rubs her head.

“It was my fault. I’m sorry,” he whispers.

“No, it wasn’t,” Lucy replies as she places her hand on his chest.

She scrunches up her nose and makes a face, then lifts her hand from his chest to find it covered in blood.

“You’re bleeding!” Lucy shrieks.

He stumbles a little, grabbing the edge of the pool table to steady himself.

“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”

Lucy shakes her head vehemently. He can see the worry written across her face. _If she’s worrying, it means she cares, right?_

Her facial expression changes again and the effects of her blood gluttony seem to be waning.

“Off!” she orders as she yanks on the hem of his shirt.

 _He does love it when she’s bossy_. He removes his shirt and watches Lucy intently. She lightly places both hands on his bare chest and licks her bottom lip. For a moment in time, they are both lost in lust. He would like nothing more than to take her right here on the pool table once again, but he doubts Lucy wants an audience for that sort of activity. Oh, and there’s also that little problem of _Rittenhouse_ to deal with.

Lucy’s eyes break away first and her hand moves down to clasp the towel in his hand. He releases his grip on the towel and watches as she slowly dips it into the bowl of water and begins to clean up some of the blood on his chest.

“Lucy,” he whispers.

“Huh?”

“I’ll be fine. I just need to feed. I’m healing slower because most of my blood is now coursing through your veins.”

She abruptly stops cleaning him and snaps out of whatever dream world she was in for the last few minutes.

“Rufus, can you get him some food from my fridge?” Lucy requests.

Rufus nods his head, then ascends the stairs to the second floor.

“I need you to tell me what happened,” he states somberly.

He has to know how he failed her. It’s as much as a compulsion as it was when he was drawn into her bar in the first place.

“Later,” she whispers back.

Rufus reappears a few minutes later and tosses him a bag.

“Here, hope you like type-O negative,” Rufus chuckles.

He stares down at the blood bag in his hand with confusion.

“You have blood in your fridge?” he asks.

“Of course I do. As much as I thoroughly enjoy Rufus’ cooking, I can’t live on human food as you well know. It was part of my deal with the witches when I first decided to stay here,” Lucy explains.

He is so ravenous right now, he wants to rip it open and down it in one gulp, but he knows what a mess that will make. It’s also generally revolting to humans to watch a vampire feed. He honestly thinks it’s because it reminds them of their fragility as well as their mortality.

Thankfully, a car pulling into the driveway distracts everyone in the room. He quickly turns his back to them, tears into the bag and chugs it like a pledge at a frat party. He closes his eyes and pretends he’s sucking on Lucy. If he tries hard enough, he can still taste the syrupy sweetness that is the woman he loves.

Suddenly, he can sense someone standing in front of him.

“Fascinating,” Ernie exclaims in wonder.

He opens his eyes to find this fool studying him as if he were a tiger in the zoo.

“It’s impolite to stare,” he growls.

“Who told you I was polite?” Ernie laughs.

He rolls his eyes, wipes his mouth with his sleeve and discards the blood bag into the trash can behind the bar. He shrugs his bloody t-shirt back on after he finally pushes out the two bullets. 

They fall to the floor with a metallic clank. He bends and picks them up and tosses them into the trashcan as well.

The door opens a moment later and Jiya and Denise rush inside.

“Lucy! Thank the goddess you’re alright,” Jiya exclaims as she hugs her friend.

“The goddess had nothing to do with it. I was never in any danger from Wyatt,” Lucy answers.

Just the mention of this human’s name makes his blood begin to boil. _What allure does this human have over Lucy? More importantly, why did she say that she needed him?_

“What in heaven’s name is that bloody racket outside?” Connor asks from his barstool.

“What racket?” Jiya replies.

Lucy peers out the window, as everyone becomes as quiet as a mouse.

“You left him in the trunk? How could you?” Lucy cries as she flings the front door open and strolls over to Rufus’ car.

Rufus follows her out, while he drags himself over to the front door to assess the situation.

“We didn’t know what his deal was Luce. And, you were too out of it to tell anyone,” Rufus pleads.

Rufus pops the trunk for her and an irate Wyatt jumps out of the trunk with his fists ready for a fight.

“Lucy!”

“Wyatt, I’m so, so sorry,” she apologizes as she hugs him tightly.

He stands in the doorway of the pub, leaning on the door jamb as he glares menacingly at Wyatt. He doesn’t like this guy one bit and not just because he has some sort of relationship with Lucy. He may be three-thousand-years-old, but he’s not _that_ old-fashioned or misogynistic to think Lucy belongs to him and only him.

“We should get back inside. We don’t have much time,” Rufus suggests.

Lucy nods and leads Wyatt towards the door.

“Hell no! I’m not going anywhere near Satan’s spawn,” Wyatt exclaims as he leers at Flynn.

“I promise, he won’t hurt you again,” Lucy whispers.

“You can’t possibly promise to control a wild beast, Lucy! He tried to kill me. He’s a monster!” Wyatt yells.

_The fucker shot him twice at point blank range and he’s the monster._

Suddenly, Jessica appears next to him in the doorway with an annoyed expression on her face. She squints her eyes and scowls at Wyatt before entwining her arm around his bicep. He crinkles his brow in response, then glances down at her as he tries to figure out what the hell she’s doing. He doesn’t need to wait long though, because Jessica decides to lob her first shot across the bow.

“He might be a monster, but he’s _my_ monster, Wyatt!” Jessica screams.

Wyatt’s face turns bright red and he flies into a furious rage. Lucy doesn’t look much better. _She doesn’t wear the green-eyed monster well at all._

Lucy tries to stop Wyatt as he rushes headfirst towards him and Jess.

“We don’t have time for this!” Rufus screams in frustration. “Emma will be back at sundown. We need to figure out what the hell we’re gonna do…and I’m freaking hungry.”

Everything changes in that instant. He has never witnessed fear in Lucy before, but he does now. The expression on her face and the fact that she stopped dead in her tracks tells him everything he needs to know. Lucy is afraid, _very_ afraid.

“Emma? Emma Whitmore?” Lucy questions to no one in particular.

“Scary redheaded vampire who likes to play with her prey like a cat toys with a mouse?” Rufus responds.

“Yeah, that’s her.”

Lucy turns her head and locks eyes with him. He can’t tell if that look conveys fear of him or fear _for_ him, but it’s fear nonetheless.

“Lucy,” he states softly.

Lucy spins back around to Wyatt and takes his hand in hers.

“Thank you for warning me. You most definitely need to leave if Emma is involved. She won’t hesitate to kill you. I can’t have that on my conscious,” Lucy explains.

“I’m not leaving you here to die, Lucy. And, I’m not leaving until I talk to my _wife_ ,” Wyatt answers.

“Wife?” Lucy asks.

“ _Ex_ -wife!” Jessica declares loudly from the porch. “And, I have nothing to say to you.”

Rufus, Lucy and he all stand there with their mouths agape. _This tool was married to Jess?_

“Jessica is your ex-wife? The _wife_ you conveniently forgot to tell me about when we were dating?” Lucy demands.

 _She dated this jarhead?_

Wyatt hangs his head in shame, then nods slightly. 

“Unbelievable!” Lucy exclaims with a raise of both hands.

She turns and strolls back towards the front door without another word. Wyatt hurries after her, giving him the evil eye as he passes him and Jess in the doorway. Rufus slams the door and locks it when he comes back in. The tension in the room is palpable, a tinderbox that could ignite at the slightest spark.

“I’m going to cook food for the humans since the vampires have already gorged themselves,” Rufus announces as he walks into the kitchen.

All of a sudden, Wyatt yelps out in pain. He hicks his leg instinctually, yet Winchester holds onto his pant leg as if it’s the last dog bone on the planet. Eventually, he’s able to extricate his leg from the dog’s mouth. Everyone turns to look as Winchester barks and growls and continues to try and bite him again in the ankle.

“You still have him?” Wyatt gasps.

“Of course I do!” Jessica screams back.

Jess strolls over and picks Winchester up. He continues to bark and growl at Wyatt.

“I’ve never seen him dislike anyone,” Lucy advises. “He even likes those two idiots,” she adds with a nod towards the bar.

“Of course he likes us. The dog is a good judge of character…which, it seems, doesn’t bode well for you Van Helsing,” Ernie chuckles as he glares at Wyatt.

“Wyatt is a good man,” Lucy interjects.

“Really? A good man you say?” Jessica asks mockingly as she circles around Wyatt with Winchester still in her arms. “Does a good man hire a witch to turn his ex-wife’s boyfriend into a Yorkshire terrier? Is that what a good man does?”

“What?” Lucy asks as she glances back and forth between Jessica and Wyatt.

“He turned your boyfriend into a dog?” Ernie asks in disbelief.

“It’s like a bloody supernatural soap opera,” Connor laughs.

Denise bangs her fist on the table three times and catches everyone’s attention.

“Enough! You can figure out who screwed who and who’s screwing who after this is all over. Right now, we need to come up with a plan because those vampires will be back at nightfall,” Denise commands.

“I already have a plan,” Lucy informs them. “It involves all of you leaving while you still can. This is my battle to fight and mine alone.”

“Lucy, no! This is our town too and we won’t be bullied into turning over one of our upstanding citizens,” Jiya declares.

The rest of them chime in as well with similar sentiments, yet he remains silent. There is no supernatural creature, no act of God, nor any words that will keep him from staying here and protecting Lucy. He will never abandon her, never.

“Why are they after you anyway, Lucy?” Denise questions with her ever-present air of interrogation.

“Yeah, what’d you do, eat someone they care about?” Ernie snickers.

Lucy glares daggers at Ernie before responding. “They only care about power and control. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“So, what did you do?” Jiya asks.

Flynn hasn’t known Lucy for that long, but he can sense the hesitation in her. He’d also like to know the answer to that question.

“I…”

“You?” Denise prods.

“I-I ran,” Lucy finally replies.

“Wait, _you’re_ Rittenhouse?” Denise asks in disbelief.

“My _mother_ is Rittenhouse. Once I found out she wanted me to join their creepy cult, among other things, I bolted. I’ve been living on the run ever since, constantly looking over my shoulder because I knew they’d never let me be,” Lucy explains, as she lowers her head in shame.

“Why would they continue to come after you if you never joined?” Jessica chimes in as she eyes her suspiciously.

“If you’d ever met my mother, you’d understand that she’s a woman one just doesn’t say no to.”

“I’m not buying this for one second, Lucy. There’s something else you’re not telling us,” Jessica retorts.

He hates to doubt Lucy, but he agrees with Jessica. It’s just not adding up. There’s something Lucy is holding back, but he’s not quite sure why. 

“None of this matters right now. The fact is, Rittenhouse didn’t just come for Lucy. Emma wants me as well. The rest of you should go. Lucy and I will do this on our own,” he declares.

Lucy stares up at him with a quizzical look upon her face.

“Why does Emma want you?” she asks.

“Because I relocated someone they’re looking for. They’ll have to kill me before I voluntarily give up that information,” he states as he and Jiya’s eyes meet.

Jiya knows what he knows, but if she’s smart, she’ll keep her mouth shut.

“And what happens if they extract this information _involuntarily_?” Lucy questions. “No, it’s too much of a risk. From what you’ve told me, they think you left already anyway. Save yourself while you still can,” she pleads.

“The coven has sealed the borders of Salem. I can try to create a diversion if you and Jessica want to leave,” Jiya states as she glances over at him. “Just know, you’ll never be able to come back.”

“Go, save yourselves,” Lucy begs.

“You can’t take on three vampires. You’re strong, Lucy, but not that strong,” he informs her. “And I meant what I said. I’m staying with you.”

“I’m not leaving either. Rittenhouse, among _other_ people,” Jessica begins as she leers at Wyatt, “have made my life a living hell. I’m done running. It’s time I stand my ground and fight,” Jessica declares.

“The coven is giving you one opportunity to remedy this situation, Lucy. If you fail, they will vote to hand you over in order to preserve the peace and sanctity of this town. Do you understand?” Denise asks.

“Yes, yes I do,” she answers. “I will beat them back…or die trying.”


	14. Red Wine and Herbs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy concocts a plan to deal with Emma. Flynn and Lucy finally get a chance to discuss what happened between them.

Lucy knows _exactly_ what Rittenhouse is capable of and she fears greatly for her friends’ lives. She also knows that at some point she’s going to have to run once again. She just needs a head start, but she wouldn’t dare ask her friends to risk their lives so that she could run away like a scared little girl. Then, there’s Flynn. Currently, he’s willing to stand by her during this fight, but if he finds out she’s one of the last Rittenhouse heirs, will he change his mind?

Her only hope at this point is to be able to hold Emma off long enough to create a big enough distraction for her to escape Salem. With Jessica being able to shapeshift, they should be able to at least have a fair fight. The only problem is, Emma doesn’t fight fair. She can’t afford to either. Still, her friends seem eager and insist on helping her in this fight. There’s only one more person she needs to convince and he’s going to be the hardest one.

“Absolutely not! I will not hide in a fucking frozen box while you’re all out here risking your lives!” Flynn declares with a dramatic wave of both hands.

“Not everyone is going to be out there. Someone has to protect Connor, Ernie and Wyatt,” Lucy argues.

“I don’t need him to protect me from anything!” Wyatt whines with disdain.

“Wyatt, it will be chaos out there. Your reflexes might be good for a human, but I won’t be able to protect you.”

“Come on, Lucy!”

“Plus, Jess and I will need all the help we can get if Rittenhouse wins and takes us. You and Flynn will be our only hope of escaping them,” Lucy explains.

The two men stare daggers at each other, but finally nod in agreement.

“It’s settled then. Jiya, you and Denise will take on Booth. His dramatic ass hates to get dirty or bloody. Oh, and heaven forbid a woman would best him at anything,” Lucy advises.

“We’ll make him regret ever stepping foot in this town,” Jiya exclaims.

“Jess and Rufus, that leaves Millerson to you.”

“Wait, what? Rufus can’t fight a vampire! He needs to be in the freezer with the rest of them,” Jiya commands.

Lucy stares pointedly at Rufus. She knows it will be difficult for him to tell her, Jiya and anyone else that doesn’t already know that he’s a werewolf, but his time has run out.

“Um, uh, Lucy, I…”

“I already know, Rufus,” Lucy advises.

“You do?”

She nods her head and gives him a sweet smile in return.

“Did you really think I didn’t know who was working in my kitchen?” Lucy laughs.

“Well, you didn’t know about Jess so-”

“That’s completely different and you know it!” Jess hisses.

“Know what?” Jiya asks again. “What does everyone here know that I don’t?”

“Jiya,” Rufus starts as he gently places his hands on her shoulders, “there’s something I have to tell you.”

Rufus still can’t seem to get the words out of his mouth.

The next thing she knows, Connor abruptly gets off his barstool and strolls over to Rufus and Jiya.

“What Romeo is trying to tell you, Juliet, is that he’s of the lupine variety,” Connor blurts out.

“Rufus is a flower?” Ernie quips before he breaks down in uproarious laughter.

“Not the flower, you idiot. I’m a werewolf,” Rufus confesses.

“Uh, okay,” Jiya responds flatly.

“ _Really_?” Rufus asks.

“Of course,” Jiya states as she takes a deep breath. “I thought you were going to tell me you were an alien or some sort of psycho killer.”

Lucy watches as a smirk spreads across Flynn’s face.

“Well, now that you mention it…”

Rufus turns around and glares daggers at Flynn.

“What? You _did_ kill a psycho vampire in the forest, which technically makes you a psycho killer,” Flynn retorts.

“Alright. Well, now that the wolf’s out of the bag and we all know our assignments, I guess there’s nothing to do but wait until Emma and her minions show up,” Lucy suggests.

“Uh, Lucy, there is one more thing,” Wyatt states. “I need someone to take me back to get my car.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? We don’t have time to go joyriding around!” Flynn yells in Wyatt’s face.

“I have a lot of weapons in my car that could be useful in this fight!” Wyatt screams back.

Lucy really does not want to deal with this insane pissing contest that Flynn and Wyatt seem determined to continue. She also doesn’t want to leave the humans defenseless if Flynn wigs out and joins the fight. Wyatt can take care of himself in a fight better than most humans, so she would feel better with a little backup.

“I’ll take him,” Denise interjects. “I need some air anyway.”

Flynn glares at Wyatt as he passes by, grabbing Lucy’s hand and leading her towards the stairs.

“Can we talk now?” he asks as he pulls both of her hands into his own.

She glances up at him and those pleading puppy-dog eyes melt her resolve. She wants nothing more than to spend her potential last hours on Earth with him. She feels safe in his arms, loved by his heart, respected by his mind and entwined with his soul. She has a sense of wholeness when he’s around that she’s never felt before.

Words escape her at the moment, so she nods in response to his question. Flynn leads her upstairs to her apartment and shuts the door behind them.

“Before you start,” Lucy states, “I just want to clarify that Wyatt wasn’t trying to hurt me. He was trying to warn and protect me from a vamp that Rittenhouse sent.”

“Probably the guy Rufus and I dispatched in the woods,” he replies.

“Wait, you killed a vampire in the woods?”

“He attacked Rufus and me while we were looking for you. Why didn’t you call anyone and let them know that you were alright? We were all worried sick, Lucy, especially me,” he confesses as he wraps his arms around her and pulls her into an embrace.

When she gazes back up into his eyes, she can tell he’s holding back tears.

“I didn’t know anyone would really be looking for me, other than maybe Rufus. I thought you were gone since you just up and left without so much as a word,” she advises.

“I didn’t want to wake you. You needed your rest and I honestly didn’t think it would take that long for Jiya to figure out whether I had a spell on me.”

“Jiya is the friend you came to see?”

He nods in acknowledgment, then kisses her forehead.

“I’m so sorry, Lucy. I never meant to hurt you. I needed to know that what I was feeling was real and not the product of a spell. I thought I could sneak off and see Jiya and get back before you ever woke. I’m an idiot. Please, please forgive me,” he begs as he releases his hold of her and gets down on his knees.

She’s taken aback by his actions. _Apparently their one night together actually meant something to him._ She’s managed to reduce this massive, ferocious, three-thousand-year-old vampire to his knees after one measly night.

“You thought _I_ put a spell on you to have romantic feelings for me?” Lucy questions with incredulity.

“No, no, not really. I had this awful feeling I was being watched or hunted. I considered the possibility that someone was trying to use you to get to me,” he explains.

“So, you went to Jiya for verification? What did she say?”

He stands back up, puts both hands on her hips and yanks her playfully to him. One of his hands snakes around her back and the other cups her cheek tenderly.

“She said I was in love,” he whispers as he kisses her lips softly.

“Was she right?”

“As crazy as it sounds, she hit the bullseye. I love you, Lucy Preston. I have waited three-thousand years for you,” he declares in between kisses.

Every single time that a man has told her this, whether it be in her human life or her vampire one, she has never believed them. But, she does now. Just the fact that he came back, that he’s willing to risk his life and stand by her in this fight against Rittenhouse tells her that. Plus, the way he gazes into her eyes, caresses her skin and kisses her are a pretty good indicator of exactly how he feels. 

She parts her lips to respond to him, but he devours her mouth an instant later. He pins her up against the wall, slides his hands under her thighs and lifts her up. She wraps her legs around his waist as he trails kisses down her neck. He kisses across her chest, then rakes his fangs up the opposite side of her neck.

“I don’t want you to respond to that right now. I just need you to know that I love you and I will never leave you ever again,” he whispers softly.

“Then why tell me now?” she whispers back.

“I-I couldn’t hold it in any longer. Lucy, I need you to understand why I’m so protective of you. I have _never_ felt this way and it terrifies me that I could potentially lose you. It’s the first shred of happiness I’ve had in a millennia,” he confesses.

His confession of love and adoration is overwhelming. She grabs his face hard and kisses the living daylights out of him. Her fingers nimbly tug on his t-shirt and yank it up, exposing his toned and chiseled chest. She had thought about just ripping it open again, but she didn’t want to destroy another shirt of his. Her hands skim down his rippling muscles, then deftly unbutton his pants, which, in turn, elicits a guttural groan from him. 

Her hand continues to wander further down until she reaches inside the elastic waistband of his boxer briefs.

“Lucy,” he pants.

“I need this,” she whispers. “I need you.”

He uses his hips to pin her to the wall, then hastily unbuttons her jeans.

“Are you sure?”

Lucy bucks her hips into him a moment later and he yanks down her pants just far enough to gain access. They make love right then and there, her back slamming into the wall with such ferocity even she may have bruises for a while. 

The compulsion to taste him grows with every thrust and kiss and she doesn’t know how much longer she’s going to be able to hold out. She doesn’t want to just chomp down again without his permission or some sort of warning, but words seem to be failing her at the moment.

“Can I, can I?” she blurts out in a breathless gasp.

“Can you what?”

“Taste you,” she whispers.

“You can do whatever you want with me. I’m yours, mind, body and soul, Lucy.”

She kisses him ferociously, then trails her fangs down his neck, eliciting a shiver through his entire body. She sinks her fangs into him and relishes in the taste of Garcia Flynn once more. It’s like a culinary delight of fine red wine with hints of Mediterranean herbs. _How does he taste even better this time?_

She’s so close to climax right now that she has to stop sucking. She glances up at him and tilts her head back, exposing her neck to him. He hesitates and catches her eye to make sure this is what she wants. There is a desperation written across his face and she nods ever so slightly. He closes in on her jugular, yet hovers with hesitation a millimeter from her skin.

“Please!” she begs.

He ever so gently pricks her skin with his fangs, but it undoes her completely. Her body is a puddle of goo floating on a cloud.

Once they have both sucked their fill and climaxed, they remain where are. He rests his forehead on hers and she finally has the courage to tell him how she feels.

“I love you too, Flynn.”

“You do?”

“Yes, yes I do. Which is why I need you to stick to the plan tonight. You’re the only one I can count on to save me if something goes wrong,” Lucy explains.

“I will not let them hurt you. They’ll have to kill me first,” he growls.

“That would break me, my love.”

He kisses her forehead before he gently lowers her to the ground.

“We should get back to the others. It’s almost sundown. Emma should be back shortly,” he advises.

She nods her head as they readjust their clothing to be presentable, then leave her apartment. Lucy has just tasted paradise. Now hell wants its turn with her.


	15. The Drums of War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy and the gang square off against Emma and her goons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretty sure this is not what any of you were expecting, but I hope you still enjoy it.

Connor thinks this plan is insanity, but he admits he hasn’t been able to think up a better one of his own. His life is now in the hands of the Count and Mr. Harker, if these two alpha males don’t kill each other first. Honestly, he has more confidence in Ernie than he does in the two of these idiots right now. There’s obviously some sort of pissing contest going on over Lucy and then you have Jessica in the mix. Based on Wyatt’s reaction to Jess blatant flirting with Flynn, he’d venture to say there’s unresolved feelings there as well.

Never in a billion years did he think he would have to deal with this sort of insanity when he moved here. Sure, he knew there were witches in Salem, (you’d have to be a bloody moron to not know that), but he never imagined having to worry that he’d become a casualty in a supernatural war that has been raging for years.

He’d never admit it to the rest of them, but he previously had dealings with Rittenhouse when he was a young entrepreneur. He didn’t know it at the time when he sold the software he invented, but he found out when they tried to recruit him as one of their human partners. Once he did his own digging, he discovered who they really were. Even though he politely declined their invitation to do further work for them, they persisted. When he finally told them there was no changing his mind, they proceeded to ruin his reputation and bankrupt him. Knowing how all-powerful and connected they were, his efforts to fight back were futile. So, he decided to move here to Salem and drink himself into oblivion. _Guess there’s no escaping fate no matter how hard you try_.

Currently, Jessica is flying over the area as their early warning system. They all have jobs to do and he feels like a useless lump. He knows he should join the fight with the rest of his friends, even though he’s never been a fighter in his entire life. He’s a coward and he’s not ashamed or afraid to admit it. He wishes he was brave like Ernie, although in that man’s case drunken stupidity is more apt than bravery.

He understands that nothing in Salem will be the same again, whether Lucy and her cohorts win this fight or Rittenhouse does. The cautious peace has been shattered and creatures will have to make a choice whose side to back in this upcoming war. Some of them here might be naïve enough to think it’s just one battle, but he’s confident that full-blown war is upon them. He knows he’s chosen the right side in terms of morality and freedom, but he’s less convinced he’s chosen the winning side. 

If they ever hope to beat and destroy Rittenhouse once and for all, they’re gonna need a hell of a lot of help in this fight. That’s where he feels he _actually_ can be of service to this cause. He has a lot of contacts from the business world even to this day, many of whom have no more love of Rittenhouse than he does, and who also have influence, money, power and connections that he doesn’t. They know the creatures that inhabit their countries or regions and could spread the word that a revolution has begun; because that’s exactly what this is.

He genuinely likes Lucy and Jess and what he knows of Jiya, at least so far. Rufus has grown to be like a son to him. _There’s just so much potential in that young man._ Denise has been a thorn in his side since he moved to Salem, but no more than any other cop in this town has. He and Ernie have this whole frenemy thing on display to the outside world, but in reality they’re the best of friends. Flynn scares the ever-loving crap out of him on every level, but he’s pretty sure Lucy can keep the big vamp in check for whatever reason. He doesn’t like or trust this Wyatt as far as he can throw him, and if Winchester is any indication, his initial assessment is right on target. And, the fact that he’s going to be locked in a freezer with this idiot during the fight is not comforting, especially since Wyatt hasn’t stopped whining since he got here.

So, in order to preserve his own life and sanity, Connor has decided to rewire Lucy’s security cameras to create his own state-of-the-art surveillance system with real-time tracking. He’s even managed to make a small earpiece com for Lucy to hear him during the fight. _Quite ingenious if you ask him._

He’s just finishing up on the last of the rewiring so he can view all the cameras on his tablet, when Jess returns to the front steps of the pub. This time, she went out as an eagle because she said it would be faster than an owl.

“They’re about a mile out,” Jessica warns. “Rufus, we should get going now if we want to still have the element of surprise.”

Jess picks up Winchester and gives him a peck on the forehead before holding the dog out to Connor.

“Can you watch Karl, please?” she asks.

He stares back skeptically, but takes the Yorkie from her arms.

“Karl? I thought his name was Winchester.”

“His name is Karl Winchester, but Karl sounded ridiculous for a dog’s name, so I just called him by his last name all the time,” she explains.

“Why me?”

“Because out of all the freezer dwellers you’re the most competent and you actually like him. If something should happen to me, I need to know he’ll be taken care of. And for heaven’s sake, whatever you do, keep him the hell away from Wyatt!” she advises. “I wouldn’t put it past him to kill him while I wasn’t looking,” she whispers.

Connor nods his head. He really didn’t plan on dog sitting while he was in there, but he does think the little bugger is cute. He really hopes something doesn’t happen to Jess, because he’s not exactly in a position to be responsible for another life. He can’t even take care of himself at this point.

Jessica strolls to the back door and waits for Rufus to kiss Jiya goodbye. Jess shifts into a werewolf right there, but Rufus decides he’ll do it outside without an audience. Jiya and Denise take their positions at the front of the bar, as the rest of them huddle in the kitchen. As soon as Emma and her thugs show up, they’ll shut the freezer door and become spectators in this supernatural grudge match.

He hands Winchester to Ernie while he double checks the feed on his tablet. He can hear Flynn and Wyatt bickering like an old married couple in his periphery, and dreads the second they have to shut the door and he won’t be able to escape it.

“What the hell kind of bullets are those?” Ernie questions loudly.

 _That_ gets his attention. Ernie may be a drunkard, but he’s no stranger to a gun, even if he only drove an ambulance when he was in the Army. He spins around and finds Ernie lurching over Wyatt’s shoulder as he loads strange looking bullets into his glock.

“They’re dipped in garlic. It won’t kill a vamp, but it’ll stun them,” Wyatt replies with a smirk as he glances over at Flynn.

“Give me a couple of those,” Ernie insists as he reached behind his back and pulls out his gun. “You know, just in case.”

Wyatt raises an eyebrow and stares back at him.

“You know how to use that thing?” Wyatt mocks.

“Boy! I fought in the war!” Ernie bellows.

“You drove an ambulance,” Lucy chimes in.

“I still know how to fire a gun!”

“Just keep that shit away from me!” Flynn growls.

 _They’re getting off to a marvelous start_.

“We’ve got movement on the perimeter!” he announces as he stares down at his tablet.

“Show time!” Ernie declares.

He watches as Lucy and Flynn share a tender moment and a kiss. He can at least sympathize with the big lug. It must be beyond difficult to watch the woman you care about go into battle, while you hide like a coward. Yet, the propensity for this plan of Lucy’s to blow up in her face is growing exponentially. She’s right when she says that Flynn’s the only one that could possibly come to her aid at that point. He’s pretty sure it’s the only reason Flynn is even pretending to go along with this plan in the first place.

He, Flynn, Wyatt, Ernie and Winchester pile into the walk-in freezer and shut the door. This freezer will either be his saving grace or his tomb. Only time will tell.

It isn’t even two seconds later before Flynn is pacing the freezer like a caged beast. Wyatt continues to shift his weight back and forth and bump into Flynn every chance he gets. Ernie is holding onto Winchester as if it’s his own baby and he’s trying to be discrete about watching the events unfold on his tablet. If the others realize what he’s doing, he knows he won’t see his tablet again.

Connor has access to multiple angles of the outside of the pub, including hacking the dashcam on Denise’s unmarked police car, providing an unobstructed view of the front steps. He watches as Emma strolls down the middle of the driveway, the two male vampires flanking her sides. They fan out to block off any easy escape down the driveway, just as Lucy, Denise and Jiya exit the pub.

He really wishes that he would have had time to rig some audio so he could listen in, although there probably won’t be much chitchat going on. He zooms the camera in on Emma’s face just in time to see an evil smirk spread across it. _This bitch thinks she’s already won, doesn’t she?_

One of Emma’s male companions seems to be enjoying this and the one who looks like the jock from every teen movie in the last thirty years appears to be bored out of his skull. That expression of boredom doesn’t last long though. A second later, an enormous, brown wolf on steroids stalks out from the woods, teeth gnashing and snarling. The jock vampire spins to face Rufus and bares his fangs with a hiss.

Emma doesn’t appear to be phased by this fact at all, since she’s still yelling something at Lucy. That all changes when a gray werewolf appears behind them, snapping and snarling as well. Jock vampire doesn’t know which way to turn as Jessica and Rufus encroach on his space.

Lucy, for her part, smirks just like Emma did when she sees the fear spread across her enemy’s face. It is clear from everyone’s posture that they are ready to pounce. Connor suspects that Lucy is providing Emma with one last chance to back down and leave before things get decidedly bloody.

To his surprise, Lucy suddenly lunges at Emma like a flying squirrel, knocking her to the ground. As soon as Emma’s back slams down, Jess and Rufus charge at jock vampire. The other male vampire turns and speeds over to help the jock, but he never makes it to him. Denise and Jiya are pulling air as if they’re in some kind of cosmic tug-of-war and the vampire is thrown backwards with force to his original position. The vamp barely makes it to his feet before a lightning bolt strikes the spot where he stood. 

All three factions of this fight at going at it and Connor finds himself torn over which one of them to watch. He gasps aloud when Emma flips Lucy off and over her, which catches Ernie’s attention.

“What’cha watchin’?” Ernie asks innocently.

“Shh!”

It’s too late. They’ve been overheard and the jig is about to be up. Ernie could have spoken as quietly as possible and Flynn still would have heard it.

“What the hell is that?” Flynn growls from behind him.

“I rigged the security cameras so we could monitor the situation,” he explains.

“And you’re just telling us now!” Flynn yells with a scowl.

Connor cranes his neck to glance back at him. For some unknown reason, he feels emboldened at the moment and decides to test the patience of one _very_ scary vampire.

“Yes, yes I am. And, I will allow you all to watch my ingenious invention if you promise to keep your grubby little fingers and _claws_ off,” he replies.

Ernie chuckles as Flynn bares his fangs.

“Give me the damn tablet!” Flynn rages.

He stubbornly stands his ground as he zooms in on the fight between Jess, Rufus and jock vampire. Now Wyatt decides to get in on the tug-of-war for the tablet. He yanks it towards Ernie, leaving Flynn and Wyatt to be content with watching from over his shoulder.

The jock vampire slices Rufus in the neck, which causes him to stumble back and whelp in pain. Jock vampire is about to pounce when Jessica attacks him from behind. She manages to get him to the ground just in time for Rufus to recover. There is no hesitation when it comes to the kill shot. Rufus chomps down onto jock vamp’s neck, tearing chunks of flesh between snarls. Jessica attacks from the opposite side and follows Rufus’ lead. Once his spinal column is visible, Rufus slams his large front paw down and severs the head from the rest of the body. 

“One down!” Ernie calls out.

They all give him the evil eye, since they are all _literally_ watching at the same time. In fact, the four of them are so crammed together in this freezer, they’re virtually on top of each other as they crane their necks to view the tablet screen.

Connor flips to the camera on the side, focusing in on the battle raging between the witches and Booth. Try as they may, neither Jiya nor Denise can seem to get a clean lick in on this slippery bastard. Booth springs forward into the air and catches Jiya with a bite to the shoulder. The men in the freezer all gasp aloud as Booth mule-kicks Denise to the ground, then corners Jiya up against the wall. Her hand grasps her bleeding shoulder as she uses the other to try to put up a magic shield.

Suddenly, Lucy flies into the frame from out of nowhere and latches onto Booth’s back. She snaps his head hard to the left as she shreds the flesh around his jugular. He crumples to the ground dead a second later, though he won’t stay that way. Unless Lucy beheads him or stakes him in the heart, the bastard will get back up again.

In the meantime, Denise tries to fend off Emma, since Lucy’s back is now exposed. She’s doing a marvelous job at it too. What Denise lacks in quickness, she makes up for in intelligence. She basically surrounds herself with an impenetrable force field as she shoots bolts of lightning at Emma.

“It’s like high-stakes whack-a-mole,” Ernie declares.

This time, Flynn actually chuckles in response as he slaps his hand on Ernie’s shoulder.

“You’re actually beginning to grow on me,” Flynn advises.

“Yeah, like a fungus,” he mumbles under his breath.

“I can see why Lucy tolerates your presence,” Flynn adds.

“I heard that snide little comment of yours over there… _Gov’na_ ,” Ernie retorts in his best attempt at a British accent.

Denise’s next lightning bolt actually singes Emma’s hair and jacket. Emma backs up further away from Denise, as Lucy basically bull rushes Emma. Lucy knocks her to the ground and climbs on top of the redhead, slashing and clawing her way towards Emma’s neck. 

Flynn finally yanks the tablet out of his hands. He watches the big vamp’s face contort in an anxious, helpless terror. _The big lug has it bad for Lucy, doesn’t he?_

“What the hell is she waiting for?” Flynn groans loudly.

As Connor peers over the man’s arm, he can see Lucy hesitate and then abruptly retreat from her attack. Since there’s no audio, they can’t hear what’s being said between the two women, but they can see their mouths moving. He’s always known Lucy to be a kind and gentle being, which in his experience is not typical for a vampire, but it’s why he chose to be a supportive patron of her business. Plus, she’s the only one who will serve him when every other bartender would undoubtedly cut him off. This, however, does not appear to be a moment of mercy from her. Something Emma said has affected Lucy greatly. She looks shocked if he had to guess. 

Lucy points to the end of the driveway as Emma scurries back on her hands and feet. Booth hobbles over to Emma and helps her up as Lucy slowly walks towards them both. Denise and Jessica flank Lucy’s sides as Rufus attends to Jiya’s injury. Emma yells something at Lucy, but Lucy just keeps pointing to the end of the road. Emma and Booth blur out of sight as Lucy takes another step towards them. Lucy lets out a visible sigh of relief, then turns around to assess the health of her friends.

Flynn pops the freezer door open and rushes to the front door of the pub. The rest of them follow and he brings up the rear. Winchester is barking like crazy, so Ernie puts him down on the ground. The little Yorkie darts after Flynn. Winchester weaves in and out of Wyatt’s legs, tripping him up in the process as he makes his way to the door.

As they exit the pub, Rufus has already changed back from his wolf form. He’s holding the remainder of his shredded t-shirt over the wound in Jiya’s shoulder, even though he’s also wounded himself. 

Winchester runs to Jessica and Flynn moves like a man possessed towards Lucy. As soon as he reaches her, he places his hands on the side of her face and examines her wounds. All of them are healed or in the process of healing already. He kisses her passionately and lifts her into the air as he wraps his arms around her. 

Connor is happy that his friends have survived their ordeal, but as a student of history he knows the war is not over. Their victory will be short-lived most likely. For now though, they will lick their wounds and rest until the drums of war beat once more.


	16. A Bottle of Preston

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy and the gang recover from their battle. Jess and Lucy have a heart to heart chat.

Lucy breathes a sigh of relief that her friends have emerged _mostly_ unscathed. She knows this war has just begun and she knows that Rittenhouse and specifically her mother, won’t give up that easily. She’s going to have to run again, because she can’t keep putting others’ lives at risk. 

Flynn is enveloping her in his arms a second later, kissing her on every inch of skin he can find after his cursory examination for injuries.

“I’m okay, Flynn. I’m okay.”

“Uh, guys, a little help here,” Rufus asks as he cradles Jiya in his arms.

Lucy and Flynn both glance over at them and Flynn springs into action.

“Jiya!”

“My magic isn’t strong enough to heal it,” Denise advises as she tries in vain to close Jiya’s shoulder wound.

“That’s because it’s a vampire bite and the venom is spreading in her body,” Flynn replies.

He practically grabs Jiya from Rufus’ arms and carries her inside the pub. Rufus struggles to get to his feet by himself, so Lucy extends her hand for him to take.

“Rufus, you’re wounded too,” Lucy exclaims as she inspects his wound closer.

She wraps her arm around him and allows Rufus to place some of his body weight on her as they slowly make their way back into the pub.

As soon as they walk through the door, she witnesses Flynn and Denise arguing about how to best treat Jiya’s wound.

“She needs to go to a hospital,” Denise commands.

“No, she doesn’t. I can heal her just fine right here,” he replies gruffly.

“I just think a hospital-”

“Can the hospital heal vampire venom? Is there some _magic_ antibiotic they can give her that I’m unaware of? No, no there’s not,” he interrupts.

“No hospitals,” Jiya mutters.

Flynn bites his own wrist, then cradles the back of Jiya’s head as he proceeds to feed her his blood. Denise cries out in disgust and disbelief; Wyatt’s reaction is not much better; Connor is back to drinking on his barstool; Ernie is watching and taking notes; and Rufus repeatedly asks Flynn if this will heal her. Rufus appears so afraid and worried for Jiya that his own wounds are an afterthought. Lucy tries to get him to attend to them, but he waves her off even as the blood oozes down his neck, arm and chest. _Next time, one of them could be seriously wounded…or die. This is why she has to run. She has to._

“Oh, hell no Count Von Doom. I am _not_ drinking your blood!” Rufus exclaims.

She shakes her head clear of her maudlin thoughts and glances over at them. Jiya is looking more and more like herself, as Flynn attempts to get Rufus to drink his blood in order to heal his wounds. 

“Let’s go Wolfman. It’s not going to kill you,” Flynn advises as he shoves his wrist towards Rufus’ mouth.

“Absolutely not! It won’t work. It’ll only make me sick. _Trust_ me.”

Jessica appears a moment later with the bar’s first-aid kit in her hand.

“Here, let me. I used to work as a nurse’s aide,” Jessica advises as she removes the hydrogen peroxide from the kit.

Flynn backs up, licks his wrist closed and allows Jessica to get to work. After Jess sterilizes the wound, she stitches it up and tapes a gauze pad over top. 

Everyone is still on edge, so Lucy breaks out the good liquor from behind the bar and pours them all a shot. She still has to deal with the elephant in the room; Rittenhouse is still actively after her, but she figures that can wait until morning. In the few hours left tonight, she’s going to have one last hurrah before she splits town for good.

“What happened out there? Why didn’t you take the kill shot with Emma?” Flynn whispers into her ear.

“Later. I don’t want to think about her right now.”

She glances up at him and silently pleads for him to understand what she’s thinking and feeling, even though she’s not sure they’ve known each other long enough for that to be a possibility. If she thinks about Emma right now, that will only piss her off even more. Right now, she just wants to drink with her friends and enjoy their company for a little while.

Denise has one shot and then informs the group she’s going home to her family.

“I’m gonna go too, Lucy…if you don’t mind,” Rufus announces.

“Mind? Absolutely not. I’m not keeping any of you here. Well, except you,” she states as she wraps her fingers through Flynn’s belt loops and pulls him in for a kiss.

“Ugh, get a room you two,” Rufus groans.

“I will just as soon as I get my car back,” Flynn retorts as he playfully glares at Jiya.

“You know, now’s really not the time to-”

“Don’t you fucking dare say it,” Flynn warns Wyatt.

“Go joyriding,” Wyatt finishes.

Flynn moves fast, but not as fast as Lucy knows he can, and pins Wyatt up against the bar.

“One of these days, no one’s going to be around to stop me from _really_ hurting you,” he threatens.

He releases Wyatt, then turns back around to Jiya and Rufus.

“You can hitch a ride with me, Flynn,” Jiya advises. “Rufus is going to his place to grab some clothes anyway before he comes back to my place.”

“I-I am?” Rufus questions with a look of shock on his face.

“Yes, yes you are. I’d feel better with you there to protect me,” Jiya explains. “Unless-Unless you don’t want to?”

“No, I-I mean, yes, I want to.”

“Fine,” he grumbles. “Just don’t kill me with your crazy driving,” he jokes.

“You’re already dead,” Jiya deadpans.

He laughs heartily, then takes Lucy’s hands in his.

“Lucy, I just want to get my things and I’ll be right back.”

“It’s fine,” she replies with a wave of her hand.

He pulls her in closer and cups her chin.

“Promise me you’ll still be here when I get back,” he whispers.

The terror-filled panic is evident on his face. She places her hand over his and moves it down to her heart and holds it there.

“I promise. I’m not going anywhere.”

She kisses him goodbye, then watches as he leaves with Jiya and Rufus.

“You going home too, Jess?” she asks.

“Nah, I’m still a little too wired to sleep right now. Plus, I’m afraid they’re still watching the pub. They don’t know I’m here and I’d like to keep it that way,” Jess advises. “Can I sleep on the couch in your office tonight?”

“Absolutely.”

Jess tugs at Lucy’s arm and directs her towards the office. 

“What’s the matter?”

“Can we talk for a minute? It’s important,” Jess asks.

Lucy nods her head and shuts the door to her office.

“Lucy, I just wanted to let you know there are no hard feelings on my part about what went down with Wyatt. To be fair to him, we were separated at the time. We both screwed up our marriage, it wasn’t just him. I struggled with what happened to me and I was afraid to tell him about it. I can’t blame him for reacting the way he did and for what he’s become. Well, except for Karl. I _do_ blame him for that,” Jessica states.

“Jess, it’s ancient history. We only went out a few times before I found out he was married and I ended it right away. I haven’t seen nor heard from Wyatt since then…until now.”

“Which is what worries me,” Jess admits. “I know Emma said she followed Flynn here, but I can’t shake this awful feeling that Wyatt’s actions led that Neville guy to you as well. If I caused Rittenhouse to find you after all these years…”

“Jess, just stop. None of this is your fault, or Wyatt’s, or Flynn’s for that matter. This is my problem. I just became too complacent. I should have kept running. Now, I’ve placed all of you in danger,” Lucy replies.

“What are you going to do? Lucy, if I’ve learned anything after all these years, it’s that you can’t keep running from your problems. If you run, they will hunt you.”

“And if I don’t, they’ll kill everyone in Salem!” Lucy snaps.

“Not if you convince them to stand with you and fight. Lucy, we can finally do something to stop Rittenhouse forever. I mean, look at what you’ve already accomplished.”

“What I’ve accomplished? Oh, yes, let’s see, Rufus and Jiya were injured, a random man was attacked on the nature trail and-”

“No! Stop it! You have managed to bring witches, a werewolf, a shapeshifter, humans, and one very old, large and intimidating vampire to fight as a team. Who else can say that? If the rest of the creature world finds out that we actually can band together to defeat Rittenhouse, imagine what we could do?” Jessica pleads.

“What _we_ can do? They want _me_ , Jess. Like you said, they don’t even know you’re here. Rittenhouse is too big, too powerful, and too connected to defeat. I only have two options; run or turn myself over. I’m not asking anyone else to risk their life for me,” Lucy declares.

“Not even Flynn? Because, from what I see, he’s determined to stand by your side and fight. You gonna just run from him too?”

Lucy opens her mouth, but nothing comes out. She’s honestly still debating what to do about Flynn. She knows she loves him and wants nothing more than to be with him. She also knows he is serious about running with her, but deep down she’s terrified of Rittenhouse killing him. Knowing those assholes, they’d force her to watch them do it, and it would break her. There would be no coming back from that for her. She’s positive of that.

When Lucy doesn’t immediately respond, Jess goes into a tirade about how stupid she is if she leaves without him.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do yet, Jess. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I got him killed,” Lucy explains.

Jess grabs ahold of Lucy’s shoulders and shakes her lightly.

“If you leave him, you’ll kill him anyway. Lucy, the way he looks at you…”

“The way who looks at her?” a booming voice interrupts.

Lucy turns and sees Flynn standing there. She’s not sure how much of their conversation he heard, but she’s really hoping it wasn’t much. He flashes her that signature smirk of his and all the weight of her worries disappear.

“The way you look at her like she’s the only woman in the world,” Jessica kids.

“She _is_ the only woman in the world. The only woman for me,” he answers with a wicked smile.

“Oh my God! You are ridiculous! Lucy, I have no clue what you see in him, but he’s all yours if you want him,” Jessica jokes as she pulls a blanket out of the closet and throws it on the couch in Lucy’s office.

“Goodnight, Jess,” Lucy chuckles as she shuts the door.

Lucy peeks her head out into the pub and finds Wyatt curled up in one of the booths, while Connor and Ernie are permanently affixed to their barstools.

“Don’t drink everything! I keep track, you know,” Lucy teases as she and Flynn ascend the stairs to her apartment.

She hears faint mumbles from the two men as she unlocks her door. Flynn shuts the door behind him, as Lucy proceeds directly to her kitchen. She opens her cabinet, removes two wine glasses and sets them back down on the counter. As she reaches for the fridge, she feels his arms wrap around her waist as he nuzzles his nose into the crook of her neck.

“What are you doing?” she chuckles as he inhales deeply.

“Mmm, I love the smell of badass, bossy Lucy.”

“Oh, you do, do you?”

He kisses her neck, then nips at her earlobe.

“Very much so,” he whispers.

“Well, I hate to disappoint you, but I think she went into hiding after tonight.”

She wriggles from his arms, opens the fridge and grabs a bag of blood. She opens the bag, fills the wine glasses with it and hands one to him.

“Hope you like AB positive, because that’s all I have right now,” she jokes as she clinks her glass against his.

“ _Actually_ , I prefer a vintage, five-hundred-year-old, full-bodied Preston,” he states as he runs his hands up and down her arms slowly.

He is killing her right now. She knows she doesn’t think straight when she’s this close to him. It’s as if she’s in an enchanting haze when he gazes at her with those bright green eyes. 

“Oh, you do? Well…I just happen to have a bottle of 1520 Preston right here,” she informs him as she slowly pulls back her hair from her neck.

He growls as he bares his fangs playfully.

“I’m much more interested in the owner of the bottle.”

Lucy raises her eyebrow in curiosity.

“In fact,” he begins as he takes her hand and leads her towards the couch, “I’d really like to know if she acquired such a sweet vintage over the centuries or if it’s always been that way,” he whispers.

“I-I guess I’ve always been like this, even when I was human. Amy, my sister, she used to always tell me I needed to worry about myself more. She said I was too nice, too trusting, too…naïve.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you still have me then. I don’t trust anyone besides you and I’m way too old to be naïve about anything at this point,” he jokes as he takes a sip from his wine glass.

She curls up beside him on the couch and lays her head on his shoulder. This is exactly what she’s always wanted: a normal life, (well as normal as it can be now that she’s a vampire). And, once again, Rittenhouse is threatening to take it from her. It’s in that moment she decides that she’s going to take a chance on life and love and flee with Flynn.

“Can you tell me why you didn’t kill Emma?” he questions in a half-whisper.

Lucy huffs loudly and lifts her head to peer up at him.

“She-she told me if I kill her, I’ll never find out what happened to Amy. I froze. Next to you, Amy is my greatest weakness and Emma knows that,” she explains.

“Do you think she _really_ knows what happened?”

Lucy shakes her head in response.

“I’m not sure, but I-I just couldn’t take the chance. Plus, if I did kill her, my mother would just keep sending people until they drag me back. And, as bad as Emma is, my mother is ten times worse. Better to deal with the devil you know, right?”

He places his glass on the coffee table and takes her hand in his before kissing her knuckles.

“We can look for Amy together. You don’t have to do anything by yourself anymore, Lucy. Please remember that when you debate the pros and cons of leaving without me,” he pleads.

She tries to feign shock when he says this, but she’s not very convincing.

“I heard you and Jess. Please, please don’t leave me. Jess is absolutely right. It _will_ kill me.”

She takes his face in her hands and kisses him softly on the lips.

“I’m not leaving you. You are the last good thing in my life and I’ll be damned if I let Rittenhouse ruin what we have. We run together, alright?” she asks.

He breathes a sigh of relief, then scoops her into his arms and carries her to the bed.

“Together we stand for eternity, my love,” he declares.

She kisses him passionately in order to avoid the tears that will inevitably begin to fall if she doesn’t. For the first time since she lost Amy, she feels a sense of belonging and she refuses to give that up; not now, not ever.


	17. Incentive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma puts her master plan into motion.

“We lost Millerson, but I did manage to get a bit of her blood when I scratched her,” Emma states to someone on the phone.

She rolls her eyes and listens for a few minutes before she cuts them off.

“No, I didn’t hurt your precious princess, _Carol!_ She was fine when I left her. It should be enough to perform the spell, but not much more. Yes, I know I said I’d be able to bring at least a sample back if not Lucy in the flesh. I still have one more card to play. I’ll call you when I have something.”

Emma hangs up the phone, picks up a lamp and throws it at the wall. She is so over this assignment already, and now she’s holed up in some crappy abandoned house in a town full of witches. _The things you do to get ahead._

She gets a toothpick and scrapes the dried blood from under her nails into a bowl. She hopes the witches tell her this is enough. She really wants to get out of here as soon as possible and get back to Nicholas. She was making such progress before Carol sent her after Flynn on what she felt was a wild goose chase. When she stumbled on Lucy, however, she knew it would put her back on the fast track to move up the ranks and get back in Carol’s good graces. She’s also well aware that if she does bring Lucy back, she’ll automatically be handing the keys to the Rittenhouse kingdom to her nemesis. Lucy will inherit everything without ever having to lift a finger. She’s half-inclined to let Lucy just make a run for it. Unfortunately, Carol sent the two witches to keep tabs on her, so that option is off the table for now. 

Naturally, she does have an ace up her sleeve. She knows what Carol and the rest of her pureblooded family did to Amy and she’s not afraid to spill the beans to Lucy if it will benefit her, or if Carol tries to maneuver around her or cut her out of the loop.

The door to her hideout opens a moment later, and Booth and her two witch babysitters stroll through with her “incentive” in tow.

“Did she give you any trouble?” Emma asks.

“Nothing we couldn’t handle,” Betty replies.

“Did you get the bitch’s blood?” Nonhelema questions.

Emma glares at the witch. _What kind of question is that? She always accomplishes what she sets out to do, why would this time be any different?_

Emma doesn’t even respond verbally, just nods her head in the direction of the bowl. 

“That better be enough.”

“Oh, it’s enough,” Nonhelema responds.

Suddenly, their hostage makes a sound and she turns to find Booth looming over her.

“Tie her up in the back room, would you?”

“Can’t I just snack on her? She looks mighty yummy,” Booth states creepily as he twists a strand of the hostage’s hair.

“Absolutely not! You are not to touch her. This isn’t a joke, Booth. You want to explain to the Table of Elders why you spoiled their prize?”

Booth scowls and drags the hostage into the back room. He ties her bound arms and legs to the chair, then rejoins Emma and the witches in the front of the house.

“You sure this spell is going to work?” Emma asks Betty.

“We have her blood. Of course it’s going to work.”

“The _real_ question is, is this hostage going to work? I mean, what does the Rittenhouse Princess care if we kidnap or kill one of the witches?” Nonhelema quips.

“She’s a fucking bleeding heart, that’s why,” Emma replies.

“You sure she’s Carol’s daughter?” Betty laughs.

“Unfortunately,” Emma mumbles.

She moseys over to the woman strapped in the chair in the other room and looks her up and down.

“What’s so damn special about this one? She looks like an ordinary witch to me,” Emma quips as she circles the hostage in the chair.

“Just like vampires, Emma, you don’t judge a witch by the size of her broom,” Betty replies as she emphasizes her southern drawl.

Emma shrugs her shoulders, then glances around the room. She knows it will take the witches a little while to get the ingredients for the spell, so she decides to go out for a late-night snack.

“I’ll be back. I need a feed,” she announces.

Booth gets up from his chair and strolls toward her.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Emma snaps.

“I need a feed too. All that running around fightin’ crazy witches and bitches has me itching for a good jugular drain,” Booth replies.

“You can go when I get back,” Emma barks as she ever-so-slightly tilts her head in the witches’ direction.

Booth stares back at her in complete confusion. _Damn, this man is dense._

“I obviously need to spell it out for you,” she whispers in his ear. “I don’t trust them. Make sure they’re _only_ doing what they’re supposed to be.”

Booth scowls, but shrinks back from her. He grumbles something incoherent as he retakes his seat. 

“I’ll be back in a little bit. In honor of Princess Lucy, I think I’ll have _professor_ tonight,” she states as she laughs wickedly.

She strolls out the door and disappears in the black of night.

After gorging herself on a professor of English literature, Emma returns to the abandoned house to put her plan into motion. Booth is still in the same chair as when she left and the witches appear to be finishing the final touches of their spell preparation.

“You ready yet?”

“Just one more thing,” Betty sing-songs.

Emma rolls her eyes as she ambles over towards the hostage.

“This one give you any trouble while I was gone?”

Booth shakes his head. She’s not quite sure if there’s something he’s not saying, or he’s just being a drama king.

“So, how is this all going to work?” Emma questions, as she waves her hand towards the spell ingredients.

“Just record the video, Emma. The spell will do the _uploading_ so to speak,” Nonhelema replies curtly.

She despises these witches. She could so easily kill the both of them without even receiving a scratch in turn. _Who do they think they are to give her orders?_

She snaps her fingers at Booth and he springs to attention. 

“Get ready to record,” she instructs.

Booth removes his phone from his pocket as Emma stands next to her hostage. He begins to record the second Emma’s face gets close to the camera.

“Hello, _Princess_! You didn’t think I’d give up that easily, did you? Since you wouldn’t come back to Rittenhouse willingly, or even to find out what happened to your precious _sister_ , I decided to provide you with a small incentive.”

Emma backs up from the camera to reveal Fei bound and gagged in the chair.

“If you don’t turn yourself over, I’ll torture and kill the little witch. She may mean nothing to you, but how do you think the witches of Salem will react if you could’ve prevented her death?”

Emma plasters an evil smirk on her face then gets closer to the camera again.

“Tell you what, as a show of good faith, I’ll still tell you what happened to Amy.”

She backs up again, grips Fei’s chin and squeezes.

“Oh, and Lucy, if you try to roll the dice and let her die, know that I’ll take Jiya next. Further instructions on the exchange will be provided in this vision. See you soon,” she laughs ominously.

She gives the signal and Booth turns the camera off. He hands her the phone and she watches the recording. Satisfied that this should be enough to get her point across, she leaves the room and goes back to the table where the witches wait. 

She tosses her phone at the witches and Nonhelema catches it.

“Recording’s done. What now?” Emma asks.

Betty dumps the herbs into the bowl, then pours Lucy’s blood in.

“Now we do the spell,” Nonhelema answers with a huff.

Betty and Nonhelema hold hands and begin chanting. Emma has no clue what language it is, but it’s definitely not anything she’s ever heard. Perhaps it’s some sort of Native American dialect that Nonhelema taught Betty. 

Next, Betty lights the contents of the bowl on fire and blows the smoke towards Nonhelema. Nonhelema plays the video as the smoke engulfs the phone. She lets the video run its course, then hands it back to Emma.

“So, what exactly will Lucy see?” Emma questions with curiosity.

“Just watch the bowl and you’ll find out,” Betty replies.

Emma scowls back in response, but focuses her attention on the smoke rising from the bowl. At first, all she sees is smoke, but as she concentrates harder, images begins to appear before her eyes. 

The first is of a brown-haired girl that she recognizes. It’s Lucy’s sister, Amy. The vision continues with Amy pleading Lucy to help her. The realistic nature of the witches’ spell highly impresses her, as the fear Amy is experiencing in the vision is almost palpable. Amy runs with jagged breath through the woods at night, the sound of wolves howling in the distance. Someone, or something, is chasing her and Amy is praying that she can outrun her pursuer. Amy falls to the ground and screams, then a thick white mist covers her and she disappears.

The next vision is of Flynn on his knees, beaten and bloodied, with his hands shackled behind his back. He tries to be brave, but distress and sorrow are written across his face. Their patriarch and founder, David Rittenhouse, looms over him with a wooden stake in his hand. Flynn closes his eyes and Lucy’s great-grandfather murders her lover right then and there. That same white mist goes over Flynn and then he disappears as well.

The next vision is of Jiya and Denise being drained dry by Emma and Booth. The attack is vicious and brutal and so realistic that Emma finds her fangs protruding on instinct. _Damn, she really, really wants this to be reality right now._ She despises witches in general, but especially these witches here in Salem. It’s part of the reason Rittenhouse’s ideals resonate with her. They _are_ inferior creatures and it’s well past time they learn their place. After she and Booth devour and mutilate Jiya and Denise beyond recognition, the mist reappears and the vision dissipates. 

Another vision begins and all Emma can see is fire. As she gazes more intently into the bowl, she notices the fire is consuming Lucy’s pub and apartment. Firefighters stand around helplessly, as the structure crumbles to the ground in a plume of smoke and ash. There is not a single item or section of the property that is salvageable. The vision fades after that and then Emma’s prerecorded message begins to play.

She watches it again, feeling pretty pleased with herself. Part of her wishes this horror show will be enough to convince the princess to turn herself over peacefully, but another part of her _really_ wishes that Lucy persists in her resistance. She would love nothing more than to tear her to shreds and let out a little steam and frustration while she does it. She knows she can’t kill her if she ever wants a seat at the Table of Elders; at least not yet. She’s been trying to work on Nicholas about dealing with Lucy more harshly. It’s a lost cause with Carol. Nicholas has shown some promise, but the old man is the one who really counts. Great-grandpa Rittenhouse has always shown a little _too_ much interest and affection towards his great-granddaughter. It’s creepy and she has no interest in touching that family dynamic with a ten-foot pole.

After Emma’s message stops, she hears Betty’s voice reading the instructions for the exchange. She informs Lucy that they will release Fei unharmed if she turns herself over without a fight. If she ignores them, they will kill Fei and find a way to blame her. Betty goes on to give Lucy a preview of what will happen if that occurs. 

Emma then witnesses the coven of Salem torture Lucy in every natural and supernatural way possible. They light her on fire with bolts of lightning, they slam her body into invisible walls, they stake her into the ground, etc., etc. Then, there is nothing, just inky blackness and the sound of Emma’s taunting voice.

“Sleep well, Princess.”


	18. General Lucy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy struggles to shake a nightmare, then tries to come up with a battle plan to move forward.

Lucy awakens gasping for air, even though she doesn’t need to breathe. She knows it was just a nightmare, especially since Flynn is lying right next to her completely untouched by the evils of her family, but it was so lifelike and real. Her jerky and sudden movement has woken him up as well and he asks if she’s alright. She isn’t in the slightest, but she really doesn’t want to talk about it either.

“I’m fine. Just a weird dream. Go back to sleep,” she whispers as she kisses his forehead.

Thankfully, he does just that, but she is _far_ from fine. Lucy gets up, goes into the bathroom and stares at her face in the mirror. Contrary to folklore, she does have a reflection, although it’s not as vivid as a human’s and there’s a strange aura-like glow that surrounds her. She has never experienced a dream like that before, which gives her even more cause for concern. She knows this could all be a ruse on Emma’s part, but if it isn’t, there is no doubt in her mind that the last vision will come to pass if she doesn’t turn herself over. Denise already informed her that the witches of Salem were giving her one chance to deal with this mess. If Lucy is defiant and doesn’t help rescue Fei, they will attack her and not even her friendship with Jiya will be enough to save her. 

She needs to check to see if Fei has indeed been kidnapped by Emma, but she doesn’t want to wake Jiya up to ask. She could call or text Denise, but that will only serve to escalate the situation. Denise will not give her the benefit of the doubt like Jiya would, nor will she allow her to see if they can rescue Fei on their own. It’s a few hours before dawn at this point, so Lucy decides that she’ll text Jiya as soon as the sun is up. _Maybe it’s all just a trick and Jiya will confirm that Fei is home and unharmed._

She leaves the bathroom and crawls back into bed. Flynn’s arm wraps back around her waist and pulls her closer as he spoons her. She knows she won’t be able to rest until she knows the truth about Fei, but Flynn looks so peaceful right now that she doesn’t want to wake him up. So, instead, she stares at the clock on the nightstand watching as the minutes tick slowly by. _Damn Emma!_ _Now she wishes she did kill her during their previous battle._

As she squeezes her eyes shut, the visions of Amy reappear. She opens her eyes again, trying in vain to shudder the images from her brain as tears silently stream down her cheek. _What is she going to do? Can she and her friends mount a rescue without any of them getting injured or killed? Should they try and enlist the Salem coven to help them?_ _Should she wake Flynn up and run right now?_

Lucy squeezes Flynn’s hand and he tightens his grip on her. Even asleep, this man has the uncanny ability to calm her and make her feel safe and secure. In his arms, nothing can touch her. In his arms, she is loved, respected and cared for and that’s all she’s ever really wanted.

About an hour later, Lucy just can’t take it any longer. She carefully removes herself from Flynn’s grasp and sits on the edge of the bed. A second later, her phone beeps. She picks it up from the bedside table and sees a notification of an incoming message from an unknown number. She opens the text and finds a photo of Fei, bound and gagged, with today’s newspaper being held up by Emma standing next to her.

Lucy stands up, throws on her yoga pants and sports bra, then goes downstairs. She needs to go for a run and burn off some of her anger and frustration. Running has always helped to clear her mind as well, and she has more than a few things on her mind at the moment.

She silently stalks down the stairs, finding Wyatt still sleeping in one of the booths and Connor and Ernie passed out face first on the bar. She doesn’t want to wake them up, so she decides to use the back door. 

She slips out the back and uses her super speed to put some distance between her and the pub. She runs in the cool morning air, the light rain kissing her skin as she goes over the scenario multiple times. 

Then, just as she’s about to turn back towards the pub, it hits her. There’s a third option here that no one has thought of or discussed. It will take some maneuvering on her part and she will need a lot of help. But if she can pull this off…

She sprints back to the pub and sneaks through the back door. Everyone is where she left them. She marches to the bar, grips up an unconscious Connor and wakes him up with a start.

“Lucy, what the hell?”

She literally drags him into her office, causing Jess to wake up and Winchester to bark. Jess shushes the dog, then hastily refolds the blanket and lays it on the couch. Jess is about to leave the office when Lucy stops her.

“Jess, wait. I’m sorry I woke you.”

“What am I chopped liver?” Connor groans.

“Not at all. You claim to be a brilliant inventor and engineer, right?”

“I don’t _claim_ anything. I _am_ a brilliant inventor and engineer,” Connor rebukes.

“Good, because I need you to make something for me.”

“I know that look in your eyes. You have a plan, don’t you?” Jessica questions.

“I do, and I’m going to need both of your help to pull it off. I won’t lie, it’ll be dangerous. There’s a good chance we’ll still fail, but if we’re going to rid this world of Rittenhouse once and for all, it’s a chance we can’t afford _not_ to take,” Lucy explains.

“What do you need me to do, Lucy?” Connor asks with a renewed sense of clarity.

“I need you to make me a device that can gather intelligence and documents from _within_ Rittenhouse,” Lucy advises.

Connor huffs loudly.

“They’re security is top notch, Luce. They’ll catch us,” Jessica warns.

“Oh, ye of little faith!” Connor exclaims loudly. “Who do you think invented and implemented that security? I may be a drunk ladies, but I’m not stupid. I can get into their system in five seconds flat.”

Lucy and Jess stare back with their mouths’ agape. She’s pretty sure he’s being honest with her and it gives her the boost of confidence she needs.

“You can?” they ask in unison.

“Ha! I have a backdoor. Of course, they could eventually realize what I’m doing, but it’ll take them a long time to trace us; if I have the proper equipment that is,” Connor explains.

“What do you need?” Lucy questions anxiously.

“A ride to my house. Everything I need is there. I also have a few ideas for a device, but that will take a little longer.”

“You have until tomorrow at dawn,” Lucy informs him.

“What happens at dawn?” Jessica asks.

“Nothing good if we can’t enact this plan,” Lucy replies somberly.

“Let’s go. I’ll get you a ride,” Jessica announces as she opens the office door.

The three of them stroll out to the front of the bar. Ernie is still passed out face down on the bar and Wyatt is curled up on the booth seat. Jessica struts over to the booth and kicks Wyatt to wake him. He cries out in pain and looks ready to pounce on whoever just kicked him, until he realizes it was Jess.

“Get up. It’s time you made yourself useful,” Jess commands.

Like the obedient puppy he is, Wyatt bolts upright and sits on the edge of the booth as stiff as a statue. 

“Take Connor to his house and make sure no one tries to take him, kidnap or kill him, then bring him right back here. Got it?”

“Anything for you, Jess,” Wyatt mutters.

Jess rolls her eyes and disappears back into the kitchen before Wyatt and Connor leave. Lucy makes sure she locks the front door after they depart, then rejoins Jess in her office.

Lucy lays out her plan to Jess. She feels it’s important to be honest with her, especially because what she is asking could get Jess killed. 

“Well, I can definitely do what you want, but are you sure that will be enough?” Jess questions.

“If Connor can get what he claims, and if we find proof of Rittenhouse’s global domination over every living thing, we can turn the creature world against them.”

“That’s a lot of ifs,” Jess quips.

“You were the one that kept pushing me to do this and now you’re backing out?”

“Hell no! I’m tired of always looking over my shoulder. I want to _actually_ live,” Jessica exclaims.

Lucy knows the feeling. She thought she had finally found it here in Salem, especially when she met Flynn, but the truth is she will never be free from her family unless they are in jail or dead. She doesn’t want that for her mother, she really doesn’t, but if she won’t change her ways, Lucy doesn’t see any other option. 

Her conversation with Jessica has not gone unnoticed. Lucy heard him moving around, but she wasn’t sure how coherent he would be in the morning light. Ernie, to his credit, listens quietly before he interjects and offers his help.

“Ernie, you’re human. I can’t ask you to risk your life for the rest of us,” Lucy states.

“I live in this world, don’t I? I don’t want to live under their thumbs. They sound like real sticks in the mud if you ask me.”

She’s about to respond, when another stroke of genius strikes.

“There is one thing you might be able to help with,” Lucy advises.

“Name it.”

“If we’re going to war, we’ll need a headquarters; a secure one. Any suggestions?” Lucy asks.

Ernie paces in the hallway outside of her office, muttering to himself for a few minutes. Jessica shoots her a dirty look as if she can’t believe Lucy is entertaining this nonsense one bit.

“I’ve got it!” he exclaims as he points a finger straight up in the air. “Uncle Eddie’s bunker.”

“I think we’re gonna need something bigger than a fallout shelter, Ernie,” Jess laughs.

“It’s not a fallout shelter. It’s a bunker; a military-grade, underground, concrete bunker that’s equipped with all sorts of stuff. Who knew being a paranoid doomsday prepper would actually come in handy?” Ernie snorts.

“Your uncle won’t mind?”

“Mind? I doubt it. He’s dead,” Ernie deadpans.

She has no idea what to say to that whatsoever.

“It’s in the middle of nowhere. The guy who helped him build it is dead too. No one knows it exists except me,” Ernie elaborates. “It’s not far from here. With your vampire speed, you could probably be there in twenty minutes.”

“Great. When Connor and Wyatt get back, I want you go out there and start setting up. Take Rufus with you too. We’ll need to eat. Well, at least you humans do,” Lucy snickers.

“Aye, aye Captain!” Ernie replies with a salute. “I’m gonna start packing up the liquor now.”

Lucy laughs, then goes over her mental checklist once more. She’s already found a purpose for much of this rag-tag crew, except for a few choice individuals. She wants to ask Jess what she thinks she should do, when her super hearing detects that Flynn is awake and moving upstairs. Denise, Jiya and Flynn will be the hardest to convince to participate in this madness. Jiya will be the easiest of the three though. Once Lucy explains what’s at stake here, Jiya will join the team. She knows how close Jiya is to Fei. Flynn will never agree to any of this, but at least he’ll do her the courtesy of hearing her out; if she decides she’s going to tell him ahead of time that is. Denise will never hear anything she has to say. She’s made her position _very_ clear. Lucy had one chance to rid Salem of this scourge and she’s failed to do so. She just hopes the rest of them will be enough to bring Denise on board, eventually.

“What are we going to do about trackers, Luce?”

Jessica’s question breaks her from her inner monologue and she frowns when she thinks about it. There’s no doubt in her mind that Rittenhouse will scan any of them they’re able to get their hands on for electronic and magical trackers, but they’ll need a way to rescue each other should they get caught. Neither one of them has been able to work that out yet. Perhaps Connor will have some ideas they haven’t thought of.

“Where is everybody?” Flynn asks suddenly from behind her.

Lucy jumps slightly, amazed by the fact that he is still able to sneak up on her considering how large he is.

“Out following General Lucy’s orders,” Jess jokes as she picks up Winchester from the floor.

“What?”

Jess winks at her, then announces she’s going to make herself some breakfast and feed Winchester.

“I’ll explain in a little bit,” Lucy answers with a wave of her hand. “Right now, I really need to take a shower after my run.”

She pushes up on her tip toes and gives him a peck on the lips.

“I won’t be long,” she advises before she disappears up the stairs.

She knows he’s aware that something is going on, but she prefer to keep him in the dark for as long as possible. At least then she’ll have the time to work out and perfect her plan. It needs to be perfect, with contingency upon contingency before she reads him in. The less he can object to, the better. Come hell or high water, Lucy is determined to see this through, with or without his blessing.


	19. Road Trip to Nowhere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rufus and the guys go for a drive. Rufus finds himself in a scary situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hang in there people! The next chapter (which is almost done because I'm on a roll) will be worth the wait!

When Lucy asks Rufus to join this sausage party, he initially is hesitant. In his experience, being on any sort of adventure with Connor and Ernie is in of itself an exercise in futility or a fool’s errand at best. But once she explains a little bit more, he reluctantly agrees. He knows that he’s been dragged into a war he never wanted any part of, but he also knows what it’s like to have things forced upon you that you never asked for. All of them, in some way or another, have had their lives fundamentally altered by supernatural creatures. Jess has already told her horror story and he knows a little of what Lucy’s own mother did to her and her sister, not to mention the crap Wyatt pulled on Karl Winchester. He’s not entirely sure where Jiya and Denise stand, but they didn’t _choose_ to be witches, they were born with it. He has no clue about Flynn and he’s not sure he even wants to know. _Does the guy even remember that long ago?_

He’s never told anyone how he became a werewolf. In fact, he never had any intention of even telling them he _was_ a werewolf. To him, it was always a curse. It was never a source of pride and he never felt superior because he was one.

Growing up on the south side of Chicago, Rufus worried more about getting beat up or shot by the cops then he ever did about being attacked by a fictional creature. Of course, it turns out he was safer in Chicago than he was at MIT. 

He’ll never forget that October night for as long as he lives. He was walking back to his dorm room after attending what could basically be described as a super-nerd Halloween party, when some lunatic jumped out of the bushes and attacked him. Initially, in his semi-drunken state, Rufus thought the guy was just taking Halloween to the extreme. He remembers thinking how awesome the makeup job was because the guy was the best looking werewolf he’d ever seen.

He didn’t realize the guy had broken his skin when he bit him, until the next morning when he woke up with his undershirt soaked in blood. The wound was so bad and nasty looking that he went to the ER. They gave him antibiotics and cleaned the wound and sent him on his way after repeatedly asking him what sort of dog he was bit by. Rufus lied and told them it was some huge Great Dane, because he thought the hospital might put him in a straight-jacket if he told them a man bit him.

Once the infection cleared up, he didn’t give the encounter a second thought; until, the first full moon. Most werewolves have a pack to help them through their first transition, but some don’t have that luxury. He fell in the latter category and had no clue what was happening to him. He honestly thought he was dying or being attacked by a ghost. The first transition is always the hardest, with many new wolves passing out from the pain before it’s even completed.

He still didn’t know what happened to him when he woke up next to a dead, half-eaten deer in the middle of the woods with torn rags where his clothes had been. He recorded himself, took blood samples and did research until he found another wolf online who explained what had happened. The guy was incredibly supportive, even inviting Rufus to join his pack, which he did that summer. But he soon found out that pack life wasn’t for him. Even though he was surrounded by others just like him, he felt like an outsider. Rufus wanted to find a cure for his “disease,” whereas the rest of them reveled in their newfound power, strength and connection to nature.

After his pack experiment, he went back and finished school at MIT, but lost his hope of ever becoming an engineer. _How would he explain his disappearances during the full moon?_ So, he went to the weirdest place he knew: Salem. That’s where he met Lucy, another outsider, who agreed to give him a job as a chef and didn’t ask questions when he asked for time off. Cooking had always been something he enjoyed. It began as more of a necessity than anything else. He either learned to cook, or starved until his mother got home from working her second job.

Now, Lucy is basically asking him to be the executive chef to a motley bunch of supernatural creatures in an underground bunker as they wage a war against the most powerful, pureblood vampire family on the planet. _What could go wrong?_

He has no idea where they currently are or where they’re going. Wyatt is behind the wheel and Ernie is in the front seat giving him directions, which means he’s in the back with Connor and a load of computer equipment. Any normal person would have put it in the trunk of the car, but Wyatt has a trunk full of weapons, so there was no room. _It’s not a good start to this revolution already._

After driving for what feels like forever and a day, Wyatt finally pulls onto some dirt road in the middle of the woods. They follow the road to its end, which is literally a field of grass. He stops the car as Ernie announces loudly that they’re here.

“Maybe you should lay off the sauce, Ernie. There’s nothing here but grass,” he laughs.

“That’s what you think,” Ernie chuckles before he gets out of the car.

Rufus and the rest of them watch as Ernie strolls to the middle of the field, then bends down and lifts up a section of sod.

“Found it!” Ernie calls.

They pile out of the vehicle and join him in the field, leaving all their gear and weapons in the car. Ernie pries open a concrete lid, then pulls a flashlight from his pocket and turns it on.

“Ladies first,” Ernie states to Wyatt with a wave of his flashlight.

Wyatt scrunches his nose in response, takes the flashlight from Ernie, sticks it in his mouth and begins to climb down the ladder.

“Are you sure this is safe?” he questions.

“Of course it is,” Ernie answers as he gives Rufus a shove towards the ladder.

_He knew he’d regret this trip. He just knew it._

When Rufus gets back to the pub, he finds Lucy outside with some burly, lumberjack looking guy boarding up the windows.

“So, how is it?” Lucy questions.

“ _Great_ …if you want to contract tetanus and you don’t mind living in a super-sized submarine,” Rufus deadpans.

“I’m gonna get better furniture today. Stop whining like a little girl,” Ernie yells.

“Where’s Connor and Wyatt?”

“Connor stayed behind to set up his ‘central command’ and Wyatt is reviewing the security weaknesses,” Rufus explains.

“How’s the kitchen? Will there be enough room to feed everyone?” Lucy asks.

“The kitchen’s large…and putrid yellow.”

Lucy chuckles at his décor dissatisfaction, then hands the burly man a nail. Ernie passes by them and heads into the pub as he sidles up to Lucy.

“Here,” he states as he extends his hand to her. “These are from Connor. He said you’d know what they were for and to call him so he can go over how they work.”

He hands her the two tiny devices that Connor gave him with hesitancy.

“What are you up to, Lucy? What are these things?”

“Trackers. And, don’t you worry about what I’m up to. You’ll find out when it’s time,” Lucy responds.

“That’s not exactly comforting,” he mutters as he walks towards the stairs of the pub.

The second he walks through the door, he’s practically assaulted by a humongous vampire. Flynn grabs his arm so hard, he’s afraid something might be broken.

“ _What_ is she up to? Come on, Rufus. You can tell me…if you know what’s good for you,” Flynn advises in a threatening manner.

“I-I have no idea. Honestly, I don’t know.”

Flynn leans towards him, stops an inch from his face and glares menacingly at him.

“Rufus, if you’re lying to me…”

“I’m not!” he swears as he pushes him away gingerly.

“Rufus is clueless,” Ernie chimes in from across the room.

Both he and Flynn turn their heads in unison and stare at Ernie.

“What? He is! I know exactly what Lucy’s doing. She’s preparing for war and I suggest you boys do the same!” Ernie exclaims as he raises his fist into the air.

 _Oh, my god! He’s going to be stuck in a tin can with a psycho, serial-killing vampire and a deranged imitation of Che Guevara._ _Kill him now._

Flynn lets go of Rufus and stalks over to Ernie.

“What do you know?” Flynn demands.

Ernie hems and haws, so Rufus takes the opportunity to sneak into the kitchen unseen. He may not know Lucy as _intimately_ as Flynn does, but he’s known her longer. She is up to something, and he’s slightly terrified that something is going to lead to a situation he doesn’t really want to be in. He’s not a fighter, nor a natural-born killer, a drunk or a lunatic. _How the hell did he wind up with this crazy bunch?_

As he exits the kitchen, Lucy and the burly man come back inside. Flynn is still grilling Ernie about Lucy’s intentions. The burly man changes before his eyes into Jessica and he takes a double take. He’s still not used to his coworker being able to shapeshift. 

He decides he needs a break from this chaos, so he informs the lot of them that he’s going home to get clothes and toiletries to bring to the bunker.

“I’ll come back later and grab the majority of the food,” he advises.

“And the rest of the booze!” Ernie calls after him.

This whole week has been a whirlwind. His secret has been exposed to people he didn’t really want to tell; he’s had to fight not one, but _two_ vampires off in battle; he’s started a new relationship with the woman he’s been pining over ever since he came to Salem; oh and he’s been thrust in the middle of a supernatural war he never wanted a part of. _What a week!_

When he pulls up to his apartment building, he’s shocked to see Jiya sitting on the steps.

“What-what are you doing here?”

“Something’s not right. I know it, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Plus, I missed you,” Jiya replies with a sly smile.

He ushers her inside quickly, then forgets what they were talking about five seconds ago because Jiya kisses him passionately. Unfortunately, he doesn’t even get the chance to respond properly before Jiya’s body goes limp and her eyes roll back in her eyes. He cradles her in his arms as he gently guides them to the floor. Panic does not begin to cover it as he proceeds to thoroughly freak out. He thinks she might be having a seizure, but he doesn’t know what to do. Does he call 911? Does he put something in her mouth so she doesn’t bite her tongue? Does he cradle her head and body as he is and let her ride this out?

He knows Jiya has visions. She’s talked about it before, but never the specific mechanics of it. _Is she having a vision?_ Not wanting to cause her any harm, he reaches into his back pocket and calls the only person that may have a clue: Lucy.

He describes what happened and what Jiya looks like at the moment, and both Lucy and Flynn confirm that Jiya’s having a vision. Relief floods over him that she’s not having a seizure, but he’s still worried about the vision. _What fresh hell is going to be wrought upon them now?_

“Just stay with her. I’ll have Jess take the food up to the bunker. You can come up tomorrow,” Lucy suggests.

“Are you sure? I mean, if Jiya’s gonna be okay, I can come later.”

“Stay with your girlfriend. I’ll just send Jess. It’ll give Flynn and I some alone time as well,” Lucy assures him.

He thanks Lucy for her help and advice, then hangs up. He brushes aside some errand strands of hair that have fallen in Jiya’s face. He takes a moment to marvel at the beautiful, amazing, woman in his arms. _How did he get so lucky?_

Jiya’s eyes go back to normal a couple minutes later and she begins to stir.

“Jiya? Oh, my God. Are you alright?”

“Lucy! I need to make sure Lucy’s okay.”

“Lucy’s fine. I just talked to her and Flynn a few minutes ago. They’re having date night,” he answers.

“But-but I saw her. She-she was in trouble.”

“What kind of trouble?” he asks.

“She was trapped in a coffin.”

He starts laughing and Jiya stares at him like he’s lost his damn mind.

“How is that funny?” she questions.

“You’re worried about a _vampire_ being in a coffin,” he answers dryly.

“She doesn’t sleep in a coffin! I don’t know any vampires that do.”

“Exactly how many vampires _do_ you know?” he asks playfully.

She gives him the evil eye and he backs down immediately.

“I _hate_ that I even thought about this, but what if Lucy and Flynn just have a strange sex life and that’s what you saw?”

Jiya purses her lips and glares at him, indicating she’s not even dignifying that statement with a response.

“I mean, I wouldn’t put anything past that guy. He could be into some crazy-ass kinky shit.”

Jiya still isn’t speaking to him. Her demeanor and facial expressions proceed to plummet down towards anger, as he continues to dig his own grave.

“ _Or_ , maybe you saw what Ernie considers a proper vampire bedroom and that’s what he assigned her as quarters in that awful bunker of his,” he laughs.

“Bunker? What bunker?” Jiya asks.

 _Shit._ He wasn’t supposed to say anything to her. He didn’t understand Lucy’s logic, but he agreed to go along with her mandate to keep the witches out of the loop. 

“Uh, well, uh…Ernie’s nuts! He took me, Wyatt and Connor out to his dead uncle’s doomsday bunker in the middle of nowhere so we would have a place to go if this crap with Rittenhouse gets worse. It was…surreal. He’s actively fixing it up and he wanted me to tell him what would be needed to feed and cook for a bunch of people. Wyatt, Connor and I just placated the idiot. He was trying to make up living quarters for the lot of us, so that’s why I thought he might have put in a coffin for Lucy.”

He’s completely rambling now, but at least he’s able to come up with a plausible excuse. He can tell by Jiya’s expression that she’s not quite buying this entirely, but he doesn’t really blame her. It sounds bat-shit crazy. Then again, Ernie _is_ bat-shit crazy.

“Maybe,” Jiya finally responds. “I just can’t help but feel like something really awful is on the horizon. It’s strange. My visions are normally much clearer than they have been and not as debilitating. It’s almost as if someone is actively blocking me from seeing into the future.”

He’s afraid to ask, but he really, _really_ wants to know, so curiosity gets the better of him.

“Have you seen anything about _our_ future?”

Jiya smiles, then leans forward and cups his face in her hands.

“I have. But we’re gonna have to have a serious talk about baby names. Kanye is out. I’m sorry, but that’s where I’m putting my foot down mister,” Jiya responds playfully.

He can live with that if he knows they’ll be together in the future. He just hopes he doesn’t screw it up in the meantime.


	20. Heart's Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy and Flynn take their relationship up a notch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just couldn't wait to post this. Hope you all hydrated before hand.

Lucy asks Jess to take the rest of the food to the bunker and Ernie agrees to drive her so she doesn’t get lost in the dark. Jess wants to stop by her place and grab some stuff for both her and Winchester before they go, so they leave a few minutes later. _Finally!_ He and Lucy are alone. 

“Are you ever going to tell me what the hell you’re up to?” he questions with a hint of hurt in his voice.

“Of course, I will. I just need to work it all out in my head first.”

“Well, maybe I can help you,” he replies as he wraps his arms around her and rests his chin on top of her head.

Lucy tilts her head up, so he pulls back slightly to meet her eyes.

“I bet you could, _but_ …I’d rather think about something other than war right now,” she states suggestively.

Her hands begin to roam under his shirt and up and down his back before she grabs his ass.

“Lucy! Are you trying to avoid telling me your plan by seducing me?”

“Is it working?” she asks as she feigns a look of innocence.

“Very much so,” he growls in her ear before nipping at the lobe with his fang.

She breaks free of his grasp, then takes his hand in hers and pulls him towards the stairs.

“I’m feeling a little adventurous tonight. Will that be a problem?” she questions as she looks back at him over her shoulder.

 _Problem? Is she mad?_ _He’s been waiting all day to get his hands and mouth on her._

They sprint up the stairs to her apartment. He hasn’t even closed the door fully yet before he’s literally swept off his feet. Lucy kicks the door completely shut with her foot, now that her arms are replete with two-hundred pounds or so of Croatian vampire.

“Lucy!” he laughs in an almost-shrieking tone.

 _Well, this is new...and definitely adventurous._ It’s undeniably one of the perks of having a vampire girlfriend, because human Lucy couldn’t carry his leg. He’s had his fair share of vampire lovers in his three-thousand years, but none of them have _ever_ had the gall to attempt sweeping him off of his feet. She doesn’t need to try very hard, because he’s been metaphorically on his knees since the first night they met and he’s not really sure he’s ever made it back to the land of the bipedal.

“I told you I felt _adventurous_ ,” she teases with a wink.

Lucy throws him down hard onto the bed, then proceeds to crawl up his body. She kisses him passionately as she rolls her hips against him. It takes him point two seconds for his arousal to kick in. He’s about to peel her shirt off when she suddenly climbs off of him and begins rummaging through her dresser drawer. She yanks something out of the dresser and disappears into the bathroom in a flash, leaving him alone with his own thoughts. _Should he get naked right now or wait to see what she has planned?_

“Where are you going?”

“Be patient, my love. I’m just getting something to spice this up.”

He didn’t know they needed to spice things up quite yet. He’s never had any complaints about their sex life. He’s knows they haven’t been together very long, but she is _everything_ he’s ever wanted and more in a mate. _How has no one snatched this woman up long ago? She’s literally a goddess with fangs._

He has no clue how Lucy would define their relationship. They haven’t really discussed it, but he wants her and only her, and that will never change. He is so sure of that fact, he’d bet his life on it. He’d marry her right now if he could, but he dare not broach the subject just yet. She’s the sort of woman he would want to bear his children, if vampires could procreate like humans did. Lucy says she loves him, which in and of itself is a miracle, but to commit to an eternity with him is an astronomical leap. Perhaps she’ll just want to spend a human lifetime with him, then move on to another man. It’s happened to others he’s known, which is why he’s been so guarded with his heart and his feelings; at least until he met Lucy. He can’t seem to help bare his soul when it comes to her, despite his brain telling him not to scare her off.

All intelligent thought halts as soon as Lucy reappears from the bathroom. She’s wearing a black lace corset and matching underwear, complete with fishnet stockings, garters and black stiletto heels. Her hair cascades down and around her shoulders and he can’t think of a more beautiful sight in his three-thousand years on this planet.

“Take off your clothes,” she orders.

He pulls his t-shirt up and over his head and discards it on the floor. He practically leaps off the bed and springs forward, landing only a few inches from her. Their eyes meet as he unbuttons his jeans and slowly unzips them. His gaze never leaves hers as he finishes disrobing in front of her. Lucy rakes her eyes up and down his naked body. Her fangs protrude slightly as she smiles and licks her lips, as if he’s a gourmet meal made specifically for her. 

“Lie on your back,” she commands.

He does so immediately, moving as if he’s in a trance. He’s so fixated on her face and curves that he fails to recognize she’s carrying something in her hands. She straddles him and he can feel her ass nudging his erection. His hands grip onto her hips as she leans down over him.

“Put this on,” she instructs as she holds out a black blindfold.

He takes it in his hand, but gazes up at her with a furrowed brow.

“I’d much rather look at you,” he states honestly.

“Indulge me,” she whispers as she runs a nail down his chest, “or I’ll tie you down forcibly.”

“Will you now?” he chuckles as he pulls the blindfold over his eyes.

He can feel the lace scrape against his skin as she grinds on him. Thankfully, he isn’t bound, because he doesn’t think he could handle that right now. _To not be able to touch her is…torture._

Lucy kisses him suddenly, her tongue twisting with his like the snakes on a caduceus. After they part, she sits back up, then rakes her nails down his chest hard. He sucks in a breath as the pain from the cuts hit him. Lucy quickly leans back down and begins sucking a trail down his chest, lapping the tiny blood droplets as she goes. 

He’s experiencing complete sensory overload right now. The anticipation of what Lucy will do to him next is causing a thrilling sensation that’s similar to a feed. The slightest touch of her finger or pinprick of her fangs has the possibility to send him over the edge.

Lucy’s tongue traipses across his chest, tracing patterns that he can’t quite figure out. On her second pass, she scrapes her fangs along with her tongue. His brain is trying to connect the dots of what she’s spelling out. _L. That’s definitely and L. U or maybe an O?_ _C._ It finally clicks and he grins gratuitously and she finishes her Y.

The next thing he knows, Lucy bites into his inner thigh, then begins to stroke his shaft hard. The combination of both pleasure and pain at the same time short circuits his brain. He’s not going to be able to hold out much longer.

She licks the thigh wound closed, then takes his shaft fully in her mouth. He grabs blindly into the air searching for her hair, head, hands or any body part he can get ahold of. Her tongue licks the underside of his shaft as she grazes her fangs down the top. As much as he tries to hold out, Lucy is working him with her mouth so wonderfully that he spills a second later.

She releases him, then climbs up his body and kisses him sloppily. 

“Lucy,” he whispers.

She pushes the blindfold up onto his forehead and smiles at him like the cat that ate the canary.

“Have I gone and done the impossible? Have I rendered Garcia Flynn speechless?” she teases.

 _Apparently yes, because nothing is coming out of his mouth._ He loves this woman more than words can describe. He wants nothing more than a trillion nights like this.

She pulls the blindfold completely off his head, then dons it herself before flipping them over so that he’s now on top.

“I want to know what it feels like to be at your mercy,” she purrs.

She could never be at _his_ mercy, because he is at hers at all times. Whatever Lucy wants, Lucy can and shall have. That’s his new motto. He will spend eternity making his vampire queen happy.

He’s still in a dreamlike state currently, but he reaches down and removes her stilettos. His hands skim up and down her stockinged thighs before he discards her stockings and garters. His fingers fumble with the laces of the corset as his mouth and teeth slowly drag her underwear down.

Lucy is already gripping the sheets with both hands when he finally frees her from the confines of the corset. He slithers down her body and begins biting her inner thigh. He closes the wound with his tongue, then moves to her other thigh and repeats the process. She’s practically panting by the time his mouth finds her center. He twists his tongue into her and she screams his name loudly. _He loves the way she tastes, whether it’s her skin, her blood, or her center._

He brings her right to the edge of ecstasy before he withdraws his mouth and slinks up her body. He kisses her slowly and deeply before he slides himself inside. Lucy gasps the second he does so and begins rolling her hips at a rapid pace.

“Lucy. Draga,” he whispers as he thrusts in and out with conviction. “I love you more than anything.”

“I love you too,” she pants breathlessly.

He knows it might be too soon to say what he’s about to, but his brain is not functioning correctly at the moment. Love, passion and adoration consume his thoughts as he thoroughly makes love to her.

“Garcia,” she whispers in between passionate kisses, “I want you to be my life-mate. I know it may be too soon for you to decide something so-so _permanent_ , but-”

He doesn’t let her finish, but instead devours her mouth. After kissing the living daylights out of her, he stops moving his hips and tilts her chin up so that their eyes meet.

“I was going to ask you the same thing. I-I just didn’t know how and I didn’t want to scare you off. And, I don’t think three-thousand years is too soon to decide anything,” he chuckles.

“You haven’t known me for three-thousand years. You haven’t even known me for three years!”

He caresses her cheek, then leans in and kisses her lips softly.

“Maybe not, but I know what I have and haven’t felt in three-thousand years. I only needed three seconds to know for sure that what I feel for you is undeniable and eternal,” he declares.

He stares intently into her eyes, searching for any hint or shred of doubt, horror or fear, but finds nothing but blissful glee and relief.

“Will-will you take my heart’s blood? I mean, if you want to make this official. If not, I understand and I’m okay with that too,” Lucy stammers.

He is totally taken aback by her request. He’s not averse to it by any means, but he didn’t expect her to come out and just ask him like that. He figured it might come up eventually, but not tonight. It’s a monumental gesture on her part, given how sacred and special a vampire’s heart’s blood is. It’s so special in fact, only the mated-for-life dare to even engage in the practice. The blood inside the arteries and valves of a vampire’s heart is stagnant because their heart no longer pumps. It begins to pool seconds after their human life ends, so it contains their purest essence. It’s also precious because it’s a limited supply. Once the heart’s blood is gone, there is no replacing it. Additional blood will fill the cavity and begin to pool of course, but it won’t be the same. It will only contain the essence of what the vampire was like at the time the pooling begins. It doesn’t give you the same sense of what that individual is like deep down, only what they were in that one moment in time.

Giving your heart’s blood to another vampire is akin to baring your entire soul and being, and is the most vulnerable one can be to their partner. If both vampires consume the other’s heart’s blood, their union is complete. It’s akin to a marriage in the human world, except there’s no avenue for divorce. The vampire that consumes the heart’s blood will unknowingly leave traces of their saliva from the bite, which will mix with the blood of that vampire. It becomes a sort of repellant for anyone but them to drink any more of the heart’s blood, preserving its special, precious status for one’s spouse. It’s why most vampires never go there even if they find someone to love for eternity. Eternity is a long time and feelings change, but he knows that will never happen with him. He is going to love her until his immortal life is snuffed out.

“Lucy, I-I want to more than anything, but I need to know that you’re sure. Unless…”

“Unless what?” she questions.

“Unless you only want to life-mate with me. I won’t like sharing you, but if it’s the only way I can be with you…”

She grabs his face hard and stares deeply into his eyes.

“I want your heart’s blood too. I want you to be my husband, but not as much as I want to be your wife,” she declares.

“Oh, Lucy,” is the only words he can manage to form before he kisses her with the fire of a thousand suns.

They both decide to finish making love before they attempt to drink one another’s heart’s blood. He is still afraid he may take too much, but he would’ve been even more afraid if he attempted it mid-coitus.

Once they have both climaxed, he lies on his side and cradles her in his arms. He tucks a stray strand of hair behind her ear, then kisses her lips softly. He turns her slightly towards him, cradling her neck with one hand and her back with the other. Lucy tilts her head back a fraction, exposing her chest in a more prominent position. He bares his fangs and lowers his head. He pauses for a second before he sinks his fangs into her chest. His eyes roll back in his head the second her blood bathes over his tongue. It’s thick like molasses, which is preventing him from guzzling, but it’s so sweet and lovely that he craves more and more. It’s proof positive that he has fallen in love with the most compassionate, kind and caring woman on the entire planet.

He laps up a few more droplets, then closes the wound with his tongue. His body is still craving more of her heart’s blood, but he forces himself to pull back in moderation.

“My beautiful wife,” he whispers into her ear as he nuzzles his face against hers.

She kisses his lips softly as she shifts their position ever so slightly. He releases his hand from behind her neck as she places hers at the nape of his. Next, she bares her fangs and plunges them into his chest. There’s no hesitation whatsoever.

He watches her eyes roll back in her head as she leisurely laps his heart’s blood. The sensation is strange at first, like a key going into its lock for the first time in centuries. It’s awkward and a little rough initially, but then-then it feels as if his body is floating in the air. He knows he won’t taste as sweet as she did, but he hopes it’s nothing too awful. She closes the wound a moment later, then wipes the blood from her mouth and licks her fingers clean.

“Mmm, my husband,” she murmurs.

They collapse in each other’s arms, utterly and totally spent both physical and mentally. He drifts off to sleep the happiest he’s ever been in his very long life.

Hours later, he feels Lucy get up and go downstairs. He doesn’t think anything of it at first, but starts to worry a few minutes later. Thankfully, she reenters the apartment just as he’s about to get up and climbs back into bed. He wraps his arms back around her, nuzzles his face in her strawberry-scented hair and returns to dreamland.

Sunlight causes him to stir hours later and his mind instantly goes to his beautiful wife in his arms. He caresses her bare shoulder, then slides the strap of her tank top down a little for better access to her neck. He skims his fangs alongside her jugular and she shrugs away from him.

He bolts upright in bed and stares over at her. Lucy doesn’t react that way normally, so he knows that something is up with her. He just has no clue what he’s done to provoke such a response. He reaches out and takes her hand in his, rubbing small circles in her palm.

“Hey, hey, what is it?”

“Nothing. Just tired,” she answers with a small smile.

He kisses the back of her hand softly, then drops it suddenly.

“What the hell! Jess? Where's Lucy?”


	21. The Exchange

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy puts her master plan into place and her first step will be to save an innocent witch.

Lucy sneaks out of her room, but not before taking one last look at her sleeping husband. _Husband._ She never thought she’d have one of those, (at least not one by her choosing), but she’s never been more sure of a decision in her entire life. She just hopes he can forgive her for what she’s about to do.

She moves silently down the stairs and into her office. She wakes Jessica with a start.

“I need a huge favor,” Lucy advises.

Jess reluctantly agrees to play her for a few hours, then hands Lucy the tracker. She stares at the device in her palm for a second, then slices her wrist open and jams the metal device inside. The slash closes on its own accord a second later. _It’s go time._

She thanks Jess again, then slips out the back door and takes off running towards the rendezvous point. Her mind races as she rushes through the shrubs and branches. _Is this the best way to accomplish her goals? Is she making a colossal mistake?_

She slips through the silver light of the morning silently, drawing ever closer to her destination. _If Emma has hurt Fei in any way, this is going to get ugly real fast._ She slows her pace as she approaches The Witch House, the agreed-upon rendezvous point for this exchange. She carefully creeps along the edge of the property, checking and rechecking the perimeter for any unknown quantities. Every once in a while, she senses as if she’s being watched, but she doesn’t see or hear anything besides the normal morning songs of the birds.

She stands next to a tree along the side of the house and waits. She doesn’t have to wait long. A few minutes later, two witches from the Salem coven arrive at the house. She recognizes them from prior dealings as Bonnie Parker and Judith Campbell. She figured one of the more senior members of the coven, such as Denise or Doc, would be tasked with rescuing Fei, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. She’s not privy to what sort of powers each member of the coven possesses besides Jiya and Denise, so perhaps these two women have special skills that would be appropriate for the given situation.

“I really hope you’re here to cooperate and not cause any more trouble,” Bonnie states as she strolls right over to her.

“There’s only gonna be trouble if Emma doesn’t hand Fei over to the two of you,” she snaps back.

She’s never liked Bonnie and not just because Jiya doesn’t like her, but because Lucy thinks she’s a snake. She’s only met Judith a couple of times, so she doesn’t know much about her.

Suddenly, the sun streaks across the horizon, temporarily blinding Lucy. She covers her eyes with her hand, then spots Emma and Booth dragging a scared-looking Fei across the lawn.

“Nice of you to join us this morning, Princess,” Emma states sarcastically.

“You’re getting what you want, Emma. Let the girl go,” she replies.

She’s not screwing around and playing Emma’s games right now. She’s a Preston after all; she knows when it’s time to get down to business.

“Getting what _I_ want?” Emma laughs evilly. “If that were true, I’d be tearing your head off right now, not exchanging you for some dumb witch.”

“Guessing the family wants me back alive and well then?”

She can surmise by the lack of response from Emma that that is indeed the case. She also knows how badly it must sting for her.

“Doesn’t it ever bother you? After everything you’ve done and given for Rittenhouse, they’re still willing to elevate a rogue family member over their good, little soldier,” she taunts.

Emma’s fist clenches into a ball as she takes a step towards Lucy. She knows she’s getting to her, but it’s a fine line that she needs to walk when it comes to her nemesis. Emma is more of a “better to ask for forgiveness than permission” type of person.

“Not for long, Princess. Plus, don’t you want to find out what happened to your precious Amy?” Emma retorts.

And there it is: the inevitable stalemate. Emma knows her weakness and she knows Emma’s.

“Can we get this show on the road? Her wolf is lurking in the area and I’d prefer to not break a nail today,” Judith complains.

 _What wolf?_ She didn’t tell anyone except Jessica where she was going and Jess was given explicit instructions to keep Flynn busy for a while. The last thing she needs is for him to muck this all up, coming in here with fangs “ablazin’.”

“On the count of three,” Emma instructs as she pushes Fei in front of her.

Lucy keeps her wits about her, but it appears that Emma is going to release Fei into the witches’ custody.

“One…two…three.”

Emma pushes Fei hard, causing the girl to stumble slightly before righting herself. Fei and Lucy pass each other on the lawn and the exchange is complete. She stands tall before Emma, hoping that they can get this over with without any additional fanfare. _But it is Emma._

Suddenly, Lucy hears Fei squeal in terror, even though she’s been gagged the entire time. She turns her head back and finds Bonnie and Judith dragging Fei back towards them. Fei’s feet kick aimlessly as they dangle in the air, while the two larger women control her by holding her under her arms. 

“What the hell is this?” Lucy gasps as she snaps her head back to Emma.

Emma doesn’t even give her a chance to respond before she clanks a weird-looking pair of handcuffs on her wrists. Fearing for her life, Lucy instinctually attempts to bare her fangs, but finds that they’re not protruding.

“You didn’t think I was going to leave you armed so you could potentially kill me on the way, did you?” Emma laughs.

_Fuck. This is definitely not something she accounted for._

“Can we get a move on? This misting rain is destroying my hair,” Judith complains.

“Yeah, I wanna see Clyde as fast as possible,” Bonnie chimes in.

“Let’s go then. I’ve got the Princess, you take the prodigy,” Emma replies.

“Why can’t we just kill her now?” Bonnie questions as she shoots a small fireball from her finger and holds it an inch from Fei’s face.

“Because Rittenhouse wants to see what they can do with her powers first. If she won’t cooperate, they’ll kill her. Maybe, you can request to be the one that does it,” Emma suggests.

 _This poor girl._ If Lucy could fight back right now, she would. Booth shoves her in the back and she stumbles forward falling on her hands and knees. Booth laughs at her misfortune and doesn’t offer to help her back up either. As she’s pushing herself back to an upright position, she spies a wolf in her periphery. It’s Rufus. _How did he find her?_ He appears ready to strike, but Lucy shakes her head at him. It would be four on one. He’d never survive.

“Get up!” Booth yells as he feigns kicking her.

Lucy scrambles to her feet, then follows them to the street and the awaiting vehicle.

“A limo? Isn’t that a bit much even for you?” Lucy asks.

Emma shrugs in response, then orders her to get inside. She climbs into the back and settles into a seat right before they practically throw Fei on top of her.

“Don’t worry. I’m gonna get you out of here, okay?” she advises Fei.

 _She just has to figure out how to get herself out of here first._

They speed through the streets of Salem in the early morning light and arrive at an airport tarmac a few minutes after that. _Crap._ She forgot to ask Connor how far of a range these transmitters have.

Emma orders her and Fei out of the car and commands they board the private jet. Fei is shaking uncontrollably and Lucy’s heart is breaking. _She shouldn’t be here caught up in this mess. She’s just a kid._ Lucy places her still handcuffed hand on top of Fei’s bound ones, trying her best to provide any semblance of comfort. 

When she boards the plane, she notices two other women already waiting for them. She’s never seen them before, but she thinks they may be witches. One of the witches is African-American and the other appears to be Native American. They’re not from Salem. She would have noticed them before if they were.

They fly for a few hours before they land at whatever nondescript airport they’re at. Lucy can’t tell one way or the other. They shove a dark hood over her head a second later and she’s led into the back of what she thinks is a van. 

They drive for another half hour or so, then the van stops. She’s tried multiple times during the ride to protrude her fangs, but these cuffs must be preventing her somehow. They remove her from the van and she’s brought inside a building. They guide her down winding corridors until they reach what sounds like a heavy, iron door by the creaking sound it makes when they open it.

“Where do you want them?” Emma questions.

“In the quarantine units,” a male voice replies.

The quarantine unit turns out to be nothing more than a sterile jail cell, complete with a hospital bed, sink, toilet and _zero_ privacy. Lucy is still handcuffed, but she’s not gagged. She’s not putting up a fight, screaming or anything, but it’s all a part of her master plan.

“Have they been scanned?” the male asks Emma.

“No.”

“Do you know when she last fed?” the male questions as he tilts his head in Lucy’s direction.

“No.”

“Then we’ll keep the cuffs on for now. What about the witch? What sort of precautions do I need to take?” the male inquires.

“She’s under a spell for the next twelve hours. You should be fine if you just sedate her like the others,” Emma replies.

_Others?_

Emma enters something into a tablet on the table, then turns to leave.

“Bye, Princess! Enjoy being a guinea pig until I get back,” Emma taunts.

Emma exits the room and Lucy glances around to find Fei in the cell adjoining hers. She watches in horror as the man begins to prepare a syringe. The man is a vampire of slender build, who is mostly bald with wisps of white hair and glasses. He’s dressed in a white lab coat and appears to either be some sort of doctor or scientist. 

The man loads the syringe into a large blow gun, then strolls over to Fei’s cell.

“It’s just a mild sedative, my dear. No need to worry,” the man advises.

Fei’s eyes grow wild and she scurries to the corner of the quarantine room. The man does not react or show any impatience with her, just calmly moves to the side of the room, opens a small round window and pulls the trigger. The dart goes flying and strikes Fei in the back of her leg. She stumbles and falls to the ground, yanking the syringe-filled dart from her thigh. She attempts to get back on her feet, but falters again and goes down for the count.

The man swipes a key card to open the door to the quarantine unit and ambles at a normal pace towards Fei.

“Don’t you touch her!” Lucy screams as she pounds on the plastic walls of her cell.

The man ignores her, then crouches down and removes the binding from Fei’s hands. He then takes out a syringe and thin rubber band from his pocket. Lucy continues to pound and scream to no avail and the man takes multiple samples of Fei’s blood. After he has taken her blood and swabbed her mouth, two additional men enter the cell. They’re each carrying a hand-held electronic wand that looks similar to a metal detector. They scan Fei’s body on either side, give Dr. Bruhl a thumbs’ up, then place Fei into her hospital bed. An IV is inserted into her arm, then the three men leave and shut the door.

The two orderlies disappear back down the hallway they came from, while the older man begins to catalogue Fei’s samples in a make-shift lab. _What the hell is going on here? Is her family in on this operation or is Emma running a side project?_

Lucy sits down on the hospital bed in her quarantine unit and rubs her wrists that are beginning to bruise and chafe from the handcuffs. _She’s not healing either._ These cuffs aren’t just preventing her from using her fangs, they seem to be suppressing everything vampire within her. 

The door to her cell opens a second later and the older man walks in with the two orderlies in tow.

“Miss Preston, my name is Dr. Bruhl. I do apologize for the restraints. I hope to be able to remove them shortly. I just need to take a blood and DNA sample and also scan your body for any real-world or supernatural trackers. I’m sure you understand that we need to keep this place under wraps from the public, at least for the time being,” he explains.

Lucy chuckles, but not because she finds any of this humorous.

“I-I don’t understand any of this! I have no idea where I am or what I’m doing here. I _expected_ to be brought back to my family in California, not become a party to a teenage girl’s kidnapping!” she snaps.

Anthony seems taken aback by her accusation that she’s been a participant in a kidnapping. It’s only a fleeting expression, but she knows she saw it. 

“I don’t know anything about that. I’m just doing my job to make sure you’re both healthy and not compromising the organization in any way. I’m merely a doctor and scientist, Miss Preston.”

“Fine,” she replies with an angry stare.

Anthony removes the swab from the vial, then shakily moves his hand towards her mouth. Lucy opens her mouth and allows him to take his DNA sample. It’s the easiest of the three things he wants. She’s not sure right now what she’s more worried about: the blood or the tracker scan. She’s always felt uneasy around the sight of blood (she is well aware of the irony given that she’s a vampire), but she’s terrified they’re going to find Connor’s tracker. _If Jessica can’t find her so she can pass on the intelligence…_

She prays the scanner is what she just saw them do to Fei, since her tracker hasn’t been activated yet and not an MRI. _Please don’t let it be an MRI. She doesn’t do well in tight spaces._ _No, no, no, no NO!_

“I-I don’t do well in tight spaces doctor. I can’t have an MRI. I’ll freak out,” she states honestly.

“Not to worry. No tight spaces involved whatsoever. It’s a simple hand-held scanner, Miss Preston.”

 _Whew!_ She’s dodged a _major_ bullet there. She can’t even imagine what her mother would do if they found the tracker.

“Oh, alright then. That makes me feel a little better, but…”

“But?” Anthony echoes.

“I don’t do well with the sight of blood either,” she confesses.

Anthony smiles widely in amusement.

“A vampire who doesn’t like blood? Now, there’s something you don’t find every day.”

_Her mother always did say she was special._

Anthony draws two vials of her blood, then leaves the room. The orderlies enter and scan her quickly. They give the thumbs’ up sign, then demand to see her cuffs. She presents her wrists and they remove the cuffs quickly, then use their vampire speed to exit the cell and relock the door. She immediately attempts to protrude her fangs, but finds they only pop out slightly.

“It’ll take some time for you to fully recover,” Anthony yells from the lab across the room.

Time: her most precious commodity. The one thing she doesn’t have a lot of right now. Her only hope is that she has enough of it to finally take down Rittenhouse once and for all.


	22. Finding Lucy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flynn begins his search for Lucy.

“What the hell! Jess? Where is Lucy?”

Jessica stares blankly back at him as if she hasn’t heard his question. She looks _exactly_ like his wife, but she doesn’t smell or taste like her. His lips only had to skim the skin of her hand to know that she was an impostor.

Panic fills his brain like the waters from a broken dam. He grabs Jessica’s shoulders and begins to shake her violently.

“Where is Lucy? Why are you impersonating her and why the hell were you in our bed?” he demands.

“Flynn stop! You’re hurting me,” Jessica replies.

He recoils in horror. He didn’t mean to hurt Jess, but he was so gripped with fear of his wife’s whereabouts that he didn’t recognize the strength of his hold on her. 

“I’m sorry. Where-can you please turn back into yourself? It’s freaking me out,” he explains.

Jessica shifts back into her own body, but she still is having a hard time looking him in the eye. 

“I’m sorry for the deception. Believe me, I am. Lucy made me do it.”

“ _Why_?”

“So, she could put her plan in motion without you stopping her,” Jessica blurts out before practically jumping off the bed.

“ _What_!” he shrieks with a thunderous roar.

“We need to meet up at the bunker. Those are my orders,” Jessica states as she gives him a mock salute and disappears out the door.

 _Unbelievable! Absolutely unbelievable!_ He truly thought they had gotten past all the secrets between them. Apparently his bride had other ideas. He’s disappointed and hurt, but he’ll never love her any less. 

He wanted to talk to her today about her abrupt decision to turn face and fight instead of running like they planned, but once again, Lucy has taken matters into her own hands. Perhaps she did it out of a sense of protecting him, but he doesn’t need her to protect him. He would die to protect her, but he doesn’t want the sentiment reciprocated.

He attempts to stand up from the bed, but his legs buckle and he sits back down. _He can’t lose Lucy. He just can’t. He’s just found her._

“Come on, Flynn! Lucy’s probably waiting for us already!” Jessica yells from the bottom of the stairs.

_She better be._

He stands up again and throws his clothes on. He’s about to descend the stairs, then goes back up into the apartment.

“Hey, Jess, do you know where Lucy might keep a cooler?”

“Cabinet above the sink. Grab your breakfast and hurry up!”

He opens the cabinet, grabs the cooler and fills it with as much ice as he can. He packs the bags of blood Lucy has in the fridge, snags his leather jacket from the hook by the door and descends the stairs.

“Ready,” he announces.

They stroll out the front door and Jess locks it. She’s about to say something to him, when a scent on the air catches his attention. His fangs instinctively protrude and he listens intently as the scent draws nearer.

“What is it?” Jess whispers.

“We’re not alone.”

“Should I shift into you or Lucy?”

He waves her off, then stands in front of her on the last step.

“I can smell you. Come out and face me!” he announces.

The leaves and bushes begin to rustle and a few seconds later, Rufus pokes his head out.

“Don’t shoot, uh, bite. It’s just me.”

“Why are you lurking in the bushes, Rufus?” he asks.

“I was trying to make sure the enemy wasn’t here. I didn’t want to be taken prisoner too,” Rufus replies.

_Too?_

“Too? Who else-are you saying Emma has taken Lucy prisoner? Does Rittenhouse have my _wife_?” he demands as he grips Rufus up by the collar.

“Your what now? If you mean, Lucy, yes Rittenhouse has her…and one of the witches. I think her name is Fei?”

“Where?”

“Can you let go of my neck and I’ll tell you?” Rufus whines.

He releases his hold on Rufus and waits impatiently as Rufus brushes himself off.

“She tried to exchange herself for the kid, but the witches were in on it. They left in a car. I did my best to keep up with them and remain unseen. They went to the airport and boarded a private jet somewhere,” Rufus explains. “I was about to jump in, but Lucy told me not to.”

“That’s it! We’re going to the airport. I don’t care who I need to kill to find out where that plane landed,” he announces as he begins to walk towards his car.

“Whoa! Whoa! How ‘bout we try to get the information _without_ killing someone,” Rufus suggests.

“Boys!” Jessica shrieks.

They both turn to stare at her.

“None of this is necessary. We just need to wait for Lucy to activate her tracker. Which is why we need to get to the bunker,” Jessica advises.

“Lucy _planned_ this?”

“Yes, she did and she’s counting on us to help her so…get in the damn car!” Jessica commands.

Since he doesn’t want to leave his car behind _again_ , he decides that he’ll follow the two of them in his own vehicle to the doomsday bunker. _What the hell was Lucy thinking? First she allows herself to be taken by Rittenhouse and now she expects them to live underground like moles?_

When they arrive at the bunker, everyone except Jiya and Denise are there. Then he learns that Lucy purposefully excluded the witches as well and he feels slightly better. They all gather in a large conference room that looks like it hasn’t been used since 1972 as Jessica and Connor recount Lucy’s grand master plan.

“What if she can’t get the tracker activated? Did any of you _geniuses_ think of that, hmm?” he snaps.

“I’ve already begun scanning their systems for any mention of her. We’ll find her one way or another,” Connor replies.

“And in the meantime, we’re supposed to what, play board games?” he complains.

“In the meantime, you’re going to work your network of humans and creatures and try to find out anything we can use against Rittenhouse. Remember, our goal is to unite all the creatures to our cause,” Connor states snippily.

“That’s not _my_ goal. _My_ goal is to get my wife back in my arms and out of the clutches of an evil organization. Plus, it could take _years_ for them to trust her enough for her to gain access to damning information. Is she planning on spending years with the enemy?”

The rest of their team just stares at him like he’s speaking another language or is from another planet. It’s patently obvious to him that none of them have considered that factor and he’s beyond angry right now. In fact, he’s livid! 

He slams his hand onto the table and abruptly stands from his chair. He glances around the room, shakes his head and turns to walk out.

“Congratulations, by the way! Guess my invite for the wedding got lost in the mail!” Ernie yells after him.

He slams the conference room door, strolls down the hallway with a power-walk speed and begins to climb the ladder to the surface. He needs fresh air to clear his head. His mind is awash with horrific scenarios Rittenhouse could be carrying out on the love of his life and he really wants to kill someone right now.

He opens the concrete lid to the bunker, ignoring the alarm blaring into the tin can below him, and leaps into the open air. He wants to run and blow off some steam, but he doesn’t know the area well and he wants to be close by in case Lucy does manage to make contact.

He paces around the edge of the bunker entrance in circles. He’s waited three-thousand years to find a woman like Lucy, he can’t possibly lose her in a few days’ time. _Not even he’s that horrible._

“I’m sorry, Flynn. I know this must be hard to deal with. If I had known what Lucy was planning to do, I would’ve told you. She seemed so confident though, if that makes it any easier,” Rufus states in a low voice from the top of the ladder.

“I didn’t want to fight. I wanted to run. Just Lucy and I. I-I don’t care where we are in this world. Whether we’re strolling side by side holding hands down the Champs-Élysées, or riding a gondola in the canals of Venice, or sitting in traffic on the damn freeway, I just want to be with her. Can you understand that Rufus?”

Rufus climbs out completely and takes a seat on the edge of the bunker. He’s close enough that they can have a conversation, but not close enough for him to reach out and grab.

“I-I actually can man. Jiya is amazing and I’m pretty sure I’m in love with her. I don’t think I’d handle it very well if Jiya was with Rittenhouse, so…”

“But she’s not with them, Lucy is!”

“Shit! I forgot to call Jiya!” Rufus exclaims as he jumps to his feet.

Rufus disappears back down the ladder and he stops pacing incessantly. For some reason, chatting with Rufus has helped to calm him down slightly. He does have people he could contact that might be able to help in this fight. It might even bring Lucy home faster and that’s all he wants right now.

About an hour or so later, he meanders down the hallway of the bunker towards the nerve center. Connor is typing away at the console, Rufus is attempting to show Jess how to cook something in the kitchen with Winchester at their feet praying some scraps will come his way, and Ernie and Wyatt are playing darts in the common room. _Glad to see they’re helping._

“Have you heard anything from Lucy yet?” he questions to no one in particular.

“Not yet, but I have made some progress ferreting out some of Rittenhouse’s shadow properties and corporate associations,” Connor answers without even looking away from the screen.

“Found anything on Cahill Pharmaceuticals?”

“Cahill, Cahill. The name sounds familiar, but I don’t think I dug too deeply on them. They seemed like the usually greedy big pharma corp. Nothing special,” Connor replies.

“Check again. Rumor has it they might be conducting unethical research,” he advises.

“Like animal research?” Rufus inquires as he joins them at the console.

“Only if you consider supernatural creatures or humans to be animals.”

Connor stops typing mid-sentence and turns to stare at him.

“How credible is this source of yours?” Connor questions.

“Very. This individual claims they were an unwilling participant in an experiment run by Cahill, but they don’t have any proof except their word.”

Connor begins typing feverishly.

“Well…isn’t this interesting,” Connor mutters.

“What?”

“Why would the CEO of Cahill care about two participants in a random medical study?” Connor questions.

“He wouldn’t.”

“Exactly! Yet, he received an e-mail from a Dr. Bruhl, Head of Genetic Research and Development, advising him that ‘the target subjects have been acquired and are currently in the midst of providing genetic samples while they perform the requisite two-week quarantine period. Will keep you apprised once genetic testing has been completed.’ Normally, that wouldn’t have even caught my eye except for the word-”

“Acquired,” he growls.

“Precisely!” Connor exclaims.

“Are you telling me Rittenhouse took my wife to be their guinea pig?”

“Well, I mean, they took a vampire and a witch. You tell me?” Connor responds.

“Oh, my…” Rufus mutters.

Rufus looks like he’s just seen a ghost, or figured out something worse than what his brain is currently conjuring about what they’re doing to Lucy, which has run the gamut of every horrific scenario he knows.

“She-she saved my life,” Rufus states with a huff as he takes a seat.

“What in bloody hell are you yammering about?” Connor asks.

“Lucy, she-she saved my life. They would’ve had a werewolf too if she hadn’t waved me off.”

“Connor, we need to find her and we need to find her now!” he demands as he slams his fist onto the table and dents it.

“Hey! Vampire Hulk! Quit breaking my furniture!” Ernie screams as he and Wyatt join the group.

“Lucy doesn’t want you to rescue her. Not yet, at least,” Jessica informs the group as she saunters in from the kitchen with a bowl of pasta in her hands.

“Damn it, Jess! I don’t really care. They could be performing experiments on her as we speak. I am _not_ going to let them murder my wife or turn her into god only knows; not if I’m still walking this Earth,” he declares.

“I’ll keep digging big guy. We’ll find Lucy,” Connor promises. 

_He better. Otherwise, he will murder his way to answers and leave a trail of bodies in his wake. Rittenhouse will not take his Lucy._


	23. The Arena

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma forces Lucy to choose between a rock and a hard place.

It’s been three-days that she’s been stuck in this quarantine cell and Lucy is really starting to lose her mind. Not only is she starving, but she’s going stir crazy. The cell isn’t small enough to trigger her claustrophobia, but she may just kill someone if she has to stare at these same four walls any longer.

She starts pounding on the glass, screaming for Dr. Bruhl. The orderlies finally bring him over after about five minutes.

“Dr. Bruhl, I need to feed. It’s been days.”

“Miss Preston-”

“Lucy. Call me, Lucy.”

“Lucy, I-I know you’re hungry, but you had some abnormalities in your bloodwork and I need to run some additional tests before I can allow you to feed. It’s not just for your own health, but for vampire science in general,” he explains.

“Abnormalities? What sort of abnormalities?”

“Your blood seems to contain active vampire virus,” he replies.

She glances back at him with a “duh” expression. She is a vampire, why wouldn’t she have active virus within her blood?

“It’s-it’s unusual because this strain is not a pureblood strain. It also contains human markers, which makes no sense given your bloodline,” he answers.

Human markers? Oh, _oh!_ It’s from Flynn’s heart’s blood. Those are the abnormalities that he’s finding. Before she evens knows what she’s doing, the words fly out of her mouth.

“I’m pretty sure I can explain that. I fed on a vampire before I came here.”

Dr. Bruhl looks at her with a puzzled expression, then fumbles through information on his tablet for a minute or so.

“I-I apologize. It says here you’re in a committed relationship with Dr. Noah Petino, so I just assumed…”

She bursts out into uproarious laughter.

“How old _is_ that info you have? I haven’t been with Noah in two-hundred years.”

He flips through his tablet again and his expression turns her laughter into worry. She almost spilled the beans that she married Flynn. Whatever fresh hell her family has concocted for her, learning that tidbit would without a doubt send them over the edge. She’s absolutely positive of that fact.

“Miss Preston, I-”

Suddenly, the door to her cell opens and the two orderlies enter with the cursed handcuffs that prevent her from changing.

“What-what’s going on here?” Dr. Bruhl questions.

“Miss Whitmore gave explicit instructions to take her to the arena,” the one orderly responds.

Now she’s _really_ worried. Nothing Emma orders when it comes to her can be good.

“But-but she’s not ready for that yet!” Dr. Bruhl exclaims with a wave of his hands.

“I just follow orders doc. It’d be in your interest if you continue to do the same,” the orderly snaps.

They slap the handcuffs on Lucy’s wrists and begin to drag her from her quarantine cell. Dr. Bruhl persists in his protests as they lead Lucy down a dark corridor to a large room with a reinforced steel door. Emma is standing there waiting for them.

“Good evening, Princess. Time to see if you’re worth all this trouble,” Emma states with a smirk.

“Miss Whitmore, this is highly irregular. She’s not ready for this yet,” Anthony protests.

“Can it Anthony! We need to speed this up. I don’t have time for this,” Emma declares.

There is definite tension between the two and Anthony appears to be petrified of her, which Lucy can sympathize with. Emma is beyond frightening.

“The results will be meaningless if she hasn’t been properly prepped,” Anthony retorts.

“Keep it up and I will personally murder your entire family myself!” Emma threatens.

Anthony backs down and Lucy is shoved inside the room by the orderlies. They remove the handcuffs and scurry back out the door. Just before the door closes, she hears Emma give Anthony another ominous warning.

“Listen, you better do what I say. You’re already on thin ice with the family after the Amy incident.”

 _Amy incident?_ _Does Anthony know what happened to her sister? Was he a part of it?_ She needs to find out what he knows, but she doesn’t want to put the man in any danger either. For some reason, she senses that Anthony is a good man, who, like countless others, has become entangled with her maniacal family. She may be able to use that to her advantage; if she survives whatever nefarious plan Emma currently has envisioned for her that is.

She scans the room they’ve shoved her in and finds it’s nothing more than a large, industrial warehouse that’s virtually empty save for a large drain in the middle of the floor. Blood stains the walls and floors in every direction. This place is worse than any horror movie, battlefield or morgue she’s ever seen and a chill runs down her spine. The orderlies called it “the arena.” Do they expect her to fight another vampire or creature?

She doesn’t have to wait long for her answer. Another door on the far end of the room opens and the orderlies shove a terrified and pleading woman inside. The door slams shut a moment later and the two of them stare at each other from across the room. Then, Emma’s booming voice calls out over a loudspeaker.

“I’d eat up if I were you, Princess. This will be you’re only opportunity to feed in the coming days,” Emma laughs evilly.

Lucy can feel Emma’s eyes on her, even if she can’t see her.

“I will not hurt an innocent person just so you can get off on it, you sick, twisted bitch!” Lucy screams.

“Who said she was innocent?” Emma retorts.

Lucy crosses her arms and leans against a pillar. She won’t do this. She can’t do this. She hasn’t fed from a live human in ages and she doesn’t plan on starting now. There was only that one time she took a tiny bit of Jiya’s blood, but Lucy doesn’t consider that the same as actively _feeding_. She especially won’t feed from an unwilling human.

“Feed!”

“No!” Lucy exclaims with a dogged determination.

“I know you’re hungry. Just imagine that red, velvety liquid coursing in her veins coating and soothing your throat,” Emma teases.

Her brain really wants that right now. It’s screaming at her to feed before she becomes too weak to defend herself. She can’t let it get that far. If she becomes defenseless, there’s no telling what Emma could and would do.

“Fine! Have it your way,” Emma laughs.

Suddenly, three metals slits in the wall slide open and wooden spikes come flying across the room, but only on the other side. The woman screams out in pain as she stumbles to the floor. Lucy’s hands go over her mouth in shock. _What the hell just happened?_ Emma is literally torturing people. _Does her mother know about this?_

The other woman begins to pick the wooden spikes out of her body in order to alleviate her pain, but now she has another problem. She’s bleeding. Lucy turns her head, but her vampire self is betraying her right now. Despite her best efforts, her fangs are protruding on their own and her mouth is salivating right now.

“Feed or I’ll shoot bigger ones next time!” Emma informs her.

The woman glances up at her with pleading eyes.

“Just kill me fast. I don’t want her to torture me to death. I’d rather just get it over with. Please, please,” the woman begs.

Lucy shakes her head and turns around. She can’t kill this woman. She just can’t. She also can’t watch as Emma tortures her to death, letting her bleed out slowly. It’ll be agonizing for the woman _and_ her. Maybe it would be better to just drain her fast? She can’t believe she’s even contemplating this right now. The woman continues to beg and Emma begins the countdown to her next round of flying shrapnel.

Lucy turns her head back towards the woman and regrets it a second later. Blood is running down the woman’s neck, shoulder and chest and she appears to be in a great deal of pain. _Damn, that bitch!_ She can’t watch this for much longer without losing control. She needs to feed or she’s going to be at Emma’s mercy.

She uses her vampire speed to sprint over to the woman just as the woman begins to collapse to the floor.

“Make it quick,” the woman whispers.

Lucy nods her head, then repositions the woman’s body for better access to the jugular. She opens her jaw wide and sinks her fangs in. A burst of crimson rushes over her tongue, sating her primal need. She’s trying not to gulp as the guilt trickles in, but the rapid heartbeat of a terrified human is making that virtually impossible. It’s gushing into her mouth like a geyser and she is gorging herself like a glutton. She can’t stop. She’s only ever tasted something better with Flynn. She knows it’s been a long time since she’s fed on a human, but she doesn’t remember it tasting this delicious. Her blood thirst is unquenchable and unrelenting, causing her to suck until she drains her dry.

Once the blood stops flowing, Lucy recoils in horror and drops the woman’s body to the floor. Her face, throat and clothing are covered in blood and she literally feels sick to her stomach. _Oh, no, what has she done?_ Her legs wobble and struggle to support her own weight, so she sinks to her knees. She wants nothing more than to just cry right now, but her determination to not give Emma the satisfaction is outweighing her emotions.

The door opens once more and one of the orderlies enters and stands there as still as a statue. The loudspeaker squawks once more, echoing Emma’s evil laugh across the room.

“Alright Elsa, let’s hear your best rendition of ‘ _Let it Go’_ ,” Emma instructs.

Lucy looks up at the video camera in the corner of the room with a puzzled expression.

“Sing!” Emma commands.

She has no idea what Emma is talking about and there is no way she can sing after what she has just done. None of this is making any sense, but her brain isn’t working correctly right now. All she can think of is one word: more.

She opens her mouth to scream back at Emma, but words do not escape. Instead, a haunting melody springs forth from her vocal chords reverberating around the metal room. Lucy quickly covers her mouth with her hand in shock. _What the hell is going on? Why can’t she talk?_ She always had a decent singing voice, but this-this is something else entirely. She opens her mouth again only to find the same refrain spilling out of her.

Then, to make matters worse, the orderly begins to stumble towards her as if he’s in a trance. He holds out his wrists to her as if he’s presenting some sort of offering. She slams her hand over her mouth once more and the orderly quickly comes back to reality, shoving his hands back into his pockets and scanning the room in a state of confusion. _Holy crap!_ The pieces begin to fall into place a second later. The woman’s blood tasted so good because she _wasn’t_ human after all. She was a siren. 

“Excellent!” Emma howls. “Marcus, please escort Princess Preston back to her cell. We’re done here.”

They’ve-they’ve turned her into a siren? This can’t be possible. It isn’t possible, at least, it never has been before. Is that what her family is doing here? Are they trying to combine their powers with other creatures or are they trying to create hybrids? After thinking about it for a few seconds, she’s pretty sure it has to be the former and not the latter. Her great-grandfather has made his feelings known over and over again about how he considers vampires to be the superior beings on the supernatural hierarchy. There is no way he would actively try to create a creature that could potentially have more power than himself. Plus, thousands have tried over the centuries to combine bloodlines and failed miserably every, single time. She can only venture to guess they’re trying to make purebloods even more special and powerful than they already were. If they could consume the blood of another creature and take on those characteristics, Rittenhouse would no longer need to cozy up to witches and werewolves and bring them into the fold. _This is worse than she could have ever imagined._

She hasn’t prepared for any of this and quickly makes the decision that her intelligence mission is going to come to an end faster than she anticipated. Who knows how many more innocent victims Emma will force her to kill if she doesn’t get out of here. Maybe she won’t even need to activate this tracker and pray her husband and friends can rescue her. Perhaps she can use this newfound talent to her advantage and just siren her way out of this hellhole.

She opens her mouth to try and siren her way out, but the haunting melody is no longer emanating from her mouth. The orderly grabs her by the wrist, slaps the magical handcuffs back on and practically drags her down the hallway.

He’s taking her into a part of the building she’s never been in before, yet she’s powerless to stop him with these cuffs on and the siren blood having worn off. As he drags her down the corridor, she passes row after row of metal cages filled with different creatures. _Is that a windigo?_

She gets to the end of the isle and spots a light brown werewolf with a collar chain who looks half-dead. She’s horrified at what she’s witnessing. The conditions these people are being subjected to and kept in makes her skin crawl. It’s worse than prison. It’s downright medieval.

The orderly shoves her through another heavy, iron door and she’s back into the quarantine unit. She’d recognize these sterile stalls anywhere by this point. The orderly escorts her back into her cell, then removes her handcuffs and locks the door.

She sinks down onto her hospital bed, head in her hands. She’s beyond ashamed at what she just did. She needs to escape this hell as soon as possible, so she waits until the orderly leaves the quarantine unit to make her move. She must be extra cautious of the cameras when she attempts to activate this tracker. If they see it, there’s no telling what they’ll do to her.

A few minutes later, the two orderlies return, enter Fei’s cell and grab her. Fei fights back, trying her best to scratch and kick the men. Then, all of a sudden, there’s a loud cracking sound. The next thing she knows, the sink in Fei’s cell goes flying, whacking one of the orderlies unconscious. Water spews from where the sink once stood, flooding the small quarantine cubicle. 

Three more orderlies rush through the heavy iron door and flood into Fei’s cell. Lucy finds it amusing that this tiny, little witch is giving four, large vampires a run for their money. She can’t dwell on it too long though, because the chaos of the situation is affording her the perfect opportunity to activate her tracker. She contorts herself into a position where her body will obscure her left wrist from the cameras, then uses a fingernail on her other hand to slice a slit into her skin.

She digs into her flesh, removes the small device and activates it. She shoves it back into her arm and is about to lick the wound closed when she hears a voice from behind her.

“Miss Preston? Are you alright?” Anthony questions.

 _Crap._ _Did he see the tracker?_ The only thing she has going for herself right now is that she’s already covered in blood, the chances he would notice a small cut on her arm are…

“I’m-I’m…all things considered, I guess I’m okay,” she stammers.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that. Please know that was not my doing,” Anthony replies.

Lucy nods her head, not sure how to respond and desperately trying to get him out of her cell.

“Oh, and uh, your arm is bleeding,” he adds as he leaves the cell and shuts the door.

Lucy stares after him in astonishment. Either Anthony noticed the tracker and is going to let Emma take care of her, or he just assumed she cut herself in the arena and didn’t give it another thought. Guess she’ll find out soon enough.


	24. Mission to Mars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jiya receives an unusual request from Flynn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. Hope you're all still hanging with me here. The next couple of chapters after this one really kick the story into high gear. (I should have the next chapter done shortly).

As soon as she gets the call from Rufus, Jiya hangs up immediately and contacts Denise and Michelle. Denise informs her to come to her house with haste so they can meet with Doc and decide on a course of action.

When she arrives at Denise and Michelle’s home, she walks into the middle of a heated discussion between Denise and Doc.

“We need to ensure that they haven’t compromised any of the other coven members before we can bring them in on this,” Denise argues.

“We can’t afford to delay if we want to get Fei back unharmed,” Doc replies.

“What if we tried to negotiate with them for her release?” Michelle questions.

“Rittenhouse will never negotiate. If they did, they would’ve released her when Lucy attempted to trade herself. I think we need to join Lucy’s motley crew if we have any hope of saving either of them,” she interjects.

“We can’t trust them. They’re not our kind,” Doc contends.

“We can’t trust our own kind either!” she points out.

“She has a point,” Denise concedes.

After arguing for a few more minutes, they decide that she will work with Lucy’s group and Denise will coordinate the activities of both groups from the outside. It disappoints her that Doc won’t agree to combine forces, but Denise reminds her that it’s best to have different cells in case one of them is compromised. It’s not an idea situation, but she’s glad that she’ll be the one going to the bunker. She’s not thrilled about living underground, but at this point she trusts Rufus and Flynn better than her own coven.

Once she arrives at the bunker, which takes forever based off the horrible directions she was given, she marvels at the impressive setup they’ve managed to cobble together over a few days. Connor is sleeping face first at a console with multiple screens that are running through data faster than she can blink. The rest of the crew is at the kitchen table playing poker. It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. _What happens when a vampire, a werewolf and a shapeshifter play poker with two humans?_

Ernie gives her directions to her room and tells her to join the game once she’s finished unpacking. The entire thing is surreal. It’s like some weird, supernatural fraternity or secret society. Then again, her life has and never will be normal, so she should be used to this by now.

She unpacks the bag she brought with her and notices that she still has Lucy’s locket. She picks it up and puts it around her neck in order to feel closer to her friend. Plus, she may be able to use it to help narrow down her location.

After she unpacks her things into her tiny room, she meanders back out towards the kitchen, passing a still sleeping Connor at the nerve center. When she strolls through, she notices that one of the computers is beeping loudly. She has no idea if that’s good or bad, so she hurries into the kitchen and whispers to Rufus.

“It’s beeping?” Flynn asks as he springs up from the table, knocking into it in the process.

She should have known she wouldn’t be able to keep anything from Flynn with his vampire hearing. He rushes out of the room and the rest of them follow as closely behind as they can, but they don’t have super speed.

Flynn whacks Connor so hard in the back that the man literally jumps into the air from his seated position.

“Is that Lucy’s tracker?” Flynn demands.

Connor coughs and wheezes as he tries to catch his breath and clear the cobwebs from his brain. His eyes narrow as he pulls up the information on the blinking screen.

“It’s Lucy alright,” Connor confirms.

“Well, where the hell is she?”

“Arlington, Virginia,” Connor answers.

“We can be there in a few hours. Let’s go. Wyatt, grab your gear,” Flynn orders.

“Hold your fangs there for a second. We need a plan. We can’t just waltz into the place. We have no clue what we’re up against, or how much firepower we’re up against,” Jessica interrupts.

“I’m hacking into the security feed at the facility now,” Connor informs them. “There’s over a dozen buildings.”

“We need to find out which one Lucy’s in. There’s just one problem,” Connor explains.

“What now?” Flynn growls.

“I can’t hack into their internal cameras. They’re on a closed system. I need someone on the inside to piggyback,” Connor advises.

Jessica volunteers to be the one to go into the complex and get them access. Flynn fights with her, but she reminds him they could be on the lookout for him and Jessica is better suited to the task. Flynn then enlists Wyatt and Rufus to perform recon of the property with him.

“We need to find the best exfil route and procure a getaway car and-”

“Flynn, slow down!” she chides.

She knows he’s anxious to rescue Lucy, but this is beyond insane. She gently places her hand on his forearm, which seems to quell the beast for a few minutes at least. Connor continues to try and surveil the outsides of the buildings in order to narrow down the possibilities, while the rest of them file into the conference room to brainstorm a plan as quickly as possible.

Connor enters the conference room and advises them that he’s viewed Emma on the exterior security cameras at four different buildings on the far end of the complex. They now have a place to start, but without Lucy to reign them all in and delegate properly, it turns into a shouting match over who is going to do what.

“Jiya, you’ll stay here,” Flynn commands.

“I will not,” she states adamantly.

“We need someone on the outside in case we’re caught,” Flynn explains. “And, you’re the only one the witches will believe.”

Rufus seconds the idea and just like that she’s been pushed out of the mission. Both her friend and her boyfriend are treating her as if she’s a porcelain doll and she’s about had enough of it. She’d rather yell at Flynn than Rufus, so after their meeting she storms down the hallway to his room.

She wants to save Lucy and Fei as much as the rest of them, but there’s one thing she wants to make sure Flynn’s considering before he goes off on his suicide mission.

“What the hell happens to all those creatures you helped relocate if you’re captured, huh? Have you even thought about that!” she screams the second she opens his door.

He opens his mouth to say something, then shakes his head and closes it again.

“Of course you haven’t because you’re not thinking clearly. You need to be at your sharpest if you’re going to be any use to Lucy,” she scolds.

“You know what? None of this would be necessary if you and Denise hadn’t gone poking around in my brain. Now all those secrets are easy pickings for the next witch I have the unfortunate privilege to encounter. _Just lovely_.”

She knows he’s upset, but she has to talk reason into him. If Rittenhouse finds out what he knows, there’s no telling what hellishness they’ll unleash. She approaches him cautiously, then takes a seat next to him on his bed.

“I know this is hard for you and that you don’t want to lose Lucy. I don’t want to lose _either_ of you, so you need to be careful and think everything through. If Rittenhouse finds her…”

He meets her eyes and nods his head before placing his hand on top of hers.

“You’re right, Jiya. I’m sorry. I just can’t lose Lucy. I also can’t shirk my responsibilities, so I have a huge favor to ask of you. You’re the only one that I can trust and the only one who will truly understand the enormity of what’s at stake here,” he explains.

She _so_ doesn’t like the sound of that, but she has a problem saying no to Flynn. She always has ever since he saved her life years ago. She doesn’t need to be reminded about what and _who_ is at stake here, but she’s glad he’s at least thinking more clearly.

“What exactly are you asking me to do, Flynn?”

“If-if for some reason Rittenhouse apprehends me, it won’t be long until one of their witches will be able to pull the information from me. I’m going to give you my emergency code for the WITSEC system. You’ll have to enter the code, which will go to someone I trust. They’ll notify all the creatures I’ve relocated that they’re going to begin moving them once more. But, there’s one person who isn’t in that system, and you and I both know why,” Flynn states somberly.

She nods her head. There is no way that information would be safe in any computerized system. Hell, she’s not even sure it’s safe in their brains.

“Do you need me to notify her? Why would she trust a stranger over something so important?” she questions.

“She won’t, which is why I need to give you the code word. If you tell her precisely what I tell you, she’ll understand and take the necessary precautions.”

“Okay. That’s not too hard,” she advises.

“You’ll have to give her the message in person though, which is why I need you to go to Alaska and wait to hear from Connor. If we get Lucy and Fei back, you’ll just have to fly back. If not…”

“Why do I have to go to Alaska? Can’t I just call her or video chat?” Jiya questions.

“Because Rittenhouse is everywhere. If they get the information, there won’t be enough time for you to fly there or call her. She won’t be able to get out in time and they’ll be able to trace her too easily,” he explains.

“But-but I’m going with you guys to Virginia. You’ll need my help in order to save Lucy and Fei,” she argues.

“I’ll have Rufus, Jess and Wyatt with me. Possibly even Denise if you and I can convince her.”

“Why can’t you just send Denise to Alaska?” she asks.

“Jiya, Denise has a law enforcement background in addition to being a powerful witch and one of the leaders of the coven. I think she’s better suited to this mission. Plus, like I said, I only trust you to get this done,” he answers honestly.

She reluctantly agrees to take on this task, but she’s _not_ happy she’s being left out of the loop once more. It’s bad enough Lucy didn’t tell her about Fei, but now even her boyfriend and oldest vampire friend are excluding her. She’s not normally a violent person, but she really wants to punch someone right now.

Flynn must sense something is off with her, because he blocks her from exiting the room with his body. She glances up and meets his eyes as he places his hands on her shoulders.

“Jiya, I know you’re angry right now. Channel it. Use it to fight Rittenhouse. None of us can afford to let them win.”

“Use it to fight them? You’ve all made sure that’s not gonna happen by shipping me off to Mars!”

“Rittenhouse could try to follow you, in which case you’re gonna need to fight. Stay vigilant. In fact, take Ernie with you,” Flynn suggests.

“Ernie! Are you freaking kidding me?”

“He can handle himself and knows how to use a gun. Plus, he’s very observant for a drunk. Betcha he’d spot a tail from a mile away,” Flynn replies.

Having to travel with Ernie is worse than going by herself. He never shuts up unless he’s passed out, so a ten-plus hour flight is going to be torture.

Flynn leans over and kisses her forehead.

“I’ll let you know as soon as I can if we successfully rescued the girls. Be safe.”

He’s always been like a big brother to her, so she wraps her arms around his waist and squeezes hard. She doesn’t want to do this, but she will for him.

She leaves Flynn’s room and heads back to her own to begin packing. Rufus stops by a little while later and she pleads with him to come back to her safely.

“ _Me?_ I’m more worried about you. Don’t make me come up there and bail you out,” Rufus states sincerely.

“Bail me out?”

“Yeah, for murdering Ernie because he didn’t shut up the entire time!” Rufus laughs.

She bursts out in a fit of giggles. _She really needed that_.

“Don’t worry,” she whispers into his ear, “they’ll never find the body anyway.”


	25. Assault On Building Thirteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team implement their plan to save Lucy and Fei.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if this fic is still holding your interest, but some questions will to start to be answered in the next couple of chapters, including the mystery woman in Alaska and her connection to Flynn.

Jiya manages to convince Denise to accompany them, leaving Doc behind to coordinate between the two groups. Flynn purposefully uses one of his fake passports to board the plane and rent their vehicle when they arrive in D.C. 

The whole process has already taken too long for his liking and now they have to drive from D.C. to Arlington. They pile into the SUV and Denise fights with him about which one of them is driving. He knows he can drive faster than her with his vampire reflexes, but it’ll also draw unwanted attention, which they can ill afford right now. He acquiesces to her request and climbs into the back with Wyatt and Rufus, which makes for an even _more_ uncomfortable ride.

“Wyatt, when we get there-”

“Flynn! I got it. We don’t have to go over the plan for the thousandth and one time,” Wyatt interrupts.

The tension is palpable in the vehicle, the slightest spark could set any of them off at any moment in time. Trust is lacking between the lot of them, but he doesn’t have any options here. He’s going to have to trust Denise and Wyatt even if he doesn’t. The longer it takes for them to get to the coordinates, the more horrific scenarios of what they’re doing to Lucy he conjures. _Please let her be alive and alright._

Finally, after what feels like a century to him, they arrive at the coordinates Connor provided. Jessica immediately shifts into a hawk and takes flight towards the Rittenhouse complex. Denise performs a cloaking spell on the rest of them and they take up their positions around the four buildings in question.

Wyatt’s job is to find and map out multiple exfiltration points and Flynn and Denise are in charge of counting security personnel and timing their rounds. Rufus shifts into his wolf form and patrols the perimeter, sniffing intently for bombs or other explosive or magical devices the team could encounter.

After they all complete their respective tasks, they meet back up and review their findings.

“We have the access road to the east we came in on, a creek that leads to a larger river to the south, miles of woods to the west and an old railroad track to the north,” Wyatt advises.

“So, the east and south are our best bets then.”

Wyatt gives him an annoyed look in response, since he just answered that question, but he ignores him.

“The west is definitely out. They’ve got a live mine field out there. There’s definitely some sort of supernatural barrier surrounding the entire complex too,” Rufus points out.

“Denise?”

“I should be able to get around that, or at least give us a head start before they know someone’s here,” Denise replies.

“What about the guards?” Wyatt questions.

“The entire lot of them are filthy vampires,” Denise quips.

He glares over at her, ready to bare his teeth in response to her comment.

“No offense,” she quickly adds. “There’s more on the north side of the complex and only two guards at the south side.”

“Two of them guard the north side entrance at all times, so that’s our last option,” he adds.

“Wyatt, you have any more of those special bullets you can spare?” Denise questions.

“Ernie made a fresh batch,” Wyatt answers as he hands an extra clip to Denise.

Suddenly, Jessica flies back in and reports that she has successful placed the piggyback in the communications room. He checks back in with Connor, who assures him he’s working as fast as he can to pinpoint Lucy’s exact location. Of course, it’s not fast enough. His vampire hearing is useless right now, since all he can hear are the heartbeats and conversations of the guards. He’ll need to be closer to the buildings to be able to hear any of that.

“Holy bloody hell!” Connor exclaims in his earpiece.

“What? Did you find Lucy?”

“Not yet, but…”

“But what?”

“What I did find is downright disturbing my good vamp,” Connor declares.

“Care to elaborate?” he quips.

“There are rows upon rows of injured, starving, half-mutilated, supernatural creatures in conditions that only rats and roaches would find suitable,” Connor informs him.

He growls loudly. If they have hurt even one measly hair on Lucy’s head…

“Keep looking, Connor,” Wyatt chimes in.

Connor continues his search as he continues to rage inside. He’s going to tear these people limb from limb for taking his wife if it’s the last thing he does.

Connor announces he’s found Lucy and Fei, who are in pristine, biohazard-looking cells in the largest building on the north side of the complex.

“This is not going to be easy,” Wyatt mutters.

“I have a plan, but you’re not going to like it,” he advises.

“Absolutely not! You’ll get us all killed! I am _not_ letting Jess go in there by herself,” Wyatt exclaims a little too loudly.

“Shut the hell up, Wyatt. I’ll do it,” Jess affirms.

“You need to get the door open for us. It has to be timed precisely,” he explains.

“ _I_. _Can_. _Do_. _It_.”

“What about you, Rufus? You up for a game of hide and seek?” he asks with a wicked smile.

Rufus appears slightly reluctant, but Denise confirms that she’ll be with him in the woods.

“They’ll be so distracted by the two of us, they won’t know what hit them,” Denise states confidently.

“That leaves you and me, Van Helsing. Try and keep up,” he sasses as he checks the clip of his gun.

“Why am I doing this again?” Wyatt whines aloud.

Jess kicks him hard in the shin, then shifts into a large, brown owl. She flies off towards the complex and the rest of the team splits up for their assignments. Connor will act as their eye in the sky and also provide updates on Jess’ progress, at least until they cut the power.

Jess flies through the supernatural barrier and lands on top of the closest building.

“Nobody move,” he orders through his com system.

Jess takes off again, heading north along the complex.

“Looks like they’re buying that she’s only an owl,” Connor advises.

Jess lands on one of the security cameras directly in front of the largest building on the northern side of the complex. The camera is facing the opposite direction, so she won’t be caught when she shifts again.

“Oh, very clever, missy,” Connor whispers into the coms.

“Connor!” Wyatt complains.

“Yes, yes. She just shifted into a spider and is crawling down the side of the building towards the door,” Connor informs the team.

“Get ready,” he commands the others.

He waits a few beats to allow Jess to get her bearings inside, then orders Denise to start her spell. 

He can hear her through the coms summoning the forces of nature. Two seconds later, he feels the rain beading down his face. Fluorescent flashes dance across the sky, then zoom to the ground in the distance. He knows Denise is trying to make the storm appear as natural as possible, but they _are_ on the clock here. The rain pounds his body, as the bright bolts of lightning get closer and closer.

“Denise isn’t going to electrocute us, is she?” Wyatt whispers.

He shoots him his best “shut the fuck up look,” then gets ready to pounce.

“Now!” he yells into the com.

Denise crashes a huge bolt down towards the complex, striking their generator directly. The complex immediately goes dark. He and Wyatt race towards the building and stop once they reach the base of the wall. He doesn’t even give Wyatt a second to protest before he grabs the back of his jacket and throws him up onto the roof. He jumps the distance himself with ease a second later. They move furtively as they tiptoe along the rooftop towards the door.

The guards patrolling the northern buildings run towards the now sparking and on fire generator, as Rufus emerges from the inky, black forest baring his imposing wolf teeth. The vampire guards spot Rufus and take off into the forest chasing him. He can’t see Denise’s perch in the large, oak tree, but he knows she’s there. One of the guards gets close to grabbing Rufus’ hind legs, but Denise pushes her arms down fast and creates a sinkhole to swallow him up. 

He spots the second vampire guard across the clearing, as the vamp stops at the bottom of Denise’s tree. Rufus does his best NFL linebacker impression and tackles the vamp from out of nowhere and they disappear into the darkness once more.

The remaining two guards stand at their posts, never wavering from their duties whatsoever. He glances down at his watch, praying that Jessica will hurry the hell up and open the door. Since Jess doesn’t have a com because she can’t shift with one, he has to rely on Connor for an update.

“Connor, do you have an ETA on Jess?” he asks.

“It’s utter chaos in there without the lights on, but I think she’s getting closer.”

He lies down on the roof and peaks his head over the side to see what’s going on at the entrance. Guards are rushing towards the generators to put out the fire, but the two guarding the door are as still as stone gargoyles.

They need to get into the building before their enemy finds some sort of temporary lighting. _Come on, Jess._

The door opens a crack a second later and a man dressed in all white pokes his head out.

“What’s going on out here boys?” the orderly asks with a chuckle.

One of the guards turns his head towards the orderly, then gets sucked inside the door like a tornado snatched him up. Wyatt leans over the roof’s ledge and shoots the remaining guard with one of his garlic-dipped bullets, stunning him momentarily. Flynn jumps from the roof, grips the man’s neck the second his feet hit the ground and snaps his neck. The guard’s body crumbles to the ground, but not before he rips the guard’s head from his neck.

“Did you really have to behead him?” Wyatt asks from the top of the roof.

“Get down here now!” he yells.

Wyatt hangs over the edge before dropping down, getting whacked in the face a second later when the orderly opens the door again.

“Let’s go boys!” the orderly states as a flash of yellow spreads across his eyes.

They follow “Orderly Jess” through the maze of turns and find their way to the room full of cages. He-he can’t believe what his eyes are seeing. Prisoners have better conditions in third-world countries than these creatures have in here. The stench alone is causing his eyes to tear, his eardrums thrumming with the palpable fear and the sound of rapid heartbeats.

“Release them all, Jess. Wyatt and I will get Lucy and Fei,” he barks.

Jess nods her head, then shifts into a copy of himself and begins to rip the cages open. He still can’t get used to looking at her when she does this, but he needs to shrug it off. He and Wyatt move down the corridor towards Lucy’s cell. He leads the way, seeing better in the dark with his vampire eyes than Wyatt with his night vision goggles.

As the door leading to the corridor with the quarantine cells comes into view, a heavy metal plate drops from the ceiling and blocks their route. They lost Connor’s eye in the sky communications when they blew the generator, so they have to find another way into the cells on their own. There are two hallways off the main corridor leading in opposite directions. He glances over at Wyatt who nods in acknowledgment. It’s time for them to split up.

Wyatt takes the corridor to the left and he takes the one to the right. He takes a few steps and comes upon two, large, heavy iron doors that lead to the next part of the building. The second he opens the doors, the stench of blood hits him like a freight train. He glances around and finds he’s inside a large warehouse of some kind. Dried blood covers the walls and floor, along with fresh pools near a drain in the center of the room. The stench of blood is overwhelming, causing his fangs to protrude from his mouth unintentionally.

Suddenly, a door on the opposite end of the room opens and he spots Emma. Two goons accompany her, holding Lucy in front of them as she struggles to break free of their grasp. _She’s alive. Thank God._

“Lucy!” he bellows.

He can’t help himself. The site of her alive and unharmed is a relief, but she’s still in the clutches of their enemy and he’s powerless to stop them. He could probably take out Emma and the goons on his own, but definitely not before they kill Lucy. There is no way he would chance her life like that, so that option is off the table.

She doesn’t call out for him, which pains him deeply, but when they lock eyes he understands. She’s terrified. He’s not sure if she’s terrified about what will happen to him if he attempts to rescue her, or if it’s for her own well-being. He knows he hasn’t known Lucy that long, but she’s never cowered out of fear before. She stood up to him the first night they met, threatening to run him out of town if he decided to snack on any of the locals. A woman who could do that isn’t afraid of much, but she’s afraid now.

“Aww, isn’t that sweet? Romeo has come for his Juliet. Too bad your story will end in tragedy as well,” Emma laughs evilly as she pulls a sword from her side and swings it directly under Lucy’s chin.

Emma’s about to say something else, but the next thing he knows the doors behind him open and a dozen or so snarling, barking and hissing creatures pour inside. He glances back over his shoulder, surmising that they must be some of the creatures that Jess released from their cells. They’re not even acknowledging his presence right now, but instead have their eyes glued to Emma and her thugs. Hopefully, they can tell that Lucy is also a prisoner and not an ally of Emma’s.

Emma tilts her head to her goons, who drag Lucy out of the room a second later.

“I’d love to stay and chat, but I _really_ must be getting Princess Lucy back to her family now,” Emma advises.

Her _family?_ _Lucy said her mom was involved with Rittenhouse. Could she be…?_

“Oh, wow. You didn’t know, did you? Princess Lucy isn’t just a pureblood vampire, she’s pureblood Rittenhouse royalty too.”

Emma slams the iron door shut as she leaves. The creatures behind him rush towards the door, banging and slamming into it repeatedly. He stands there stunned. _Emma has to be lying, doesn’t she? Did he just marry his enemy?_

A hand slaps his arm and shakes him from his thoughts.

“Flynn, did you find Lucy?” an out of breath Wyatt asks.

“Emma-Emma escaped with her,” he mutters as he continues to stare straight ahead at the door.

“And you didn’t go after them?” Wyatt questions with incredulity.

Shame weighs him down suddenly like an elephant sitting on his chest. He should have gone after them. _Why did he just stand here like his feet were in cement?_

“Flynn? Flynn!”

He doesn’t answer Wyatt, because he _can’t._

The next thing he remembers is Jessica screaming into his face that the building is rigged to blow and they need to get out of here now. He’s faintly aware she’s tugging on his arm, but he can’t seem to get it together. 

Then, suddenly, an intense wave of heat smacks him in the face, the force of the blast propelling him into the air. He lands flat on his back hard, but can’t force himself to get up.

“Flynn? Flynn!” Jessica screams.

“I failed her,” are the only words that he can utter. “I failed her.”


	26. Mystery: Alaska

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jiya and Ernie deliver their message, but Rittenhouse doesn’t make it easy on them.

They haven’t even made it to Seattle yet and Jiya already wants to kill Ernie. _Why the hell did she agree to this?_ They’re scheduled to change planes in Seattle, then fly the rest of the way to Anchorage. After they land in Alaska, they’ll need to arrange for transportation to the little town of Hope.

Hope. It’s so apropos of Flynn to place her there. They could all use a little bit of hope right now. Ever since Flynn warned her they could be followed, she’s been extra-skittish. She even let Ernie talk her into drinking on the flight to try and calm her nerves.

They arrive in Seattle finally, and have an hour before their connecting flight takes off. She reluctantly uses the airport restrooms, then finds Ernie at the airport bar. She orders some food for the two of them and they wait. She’s had an uneasy feeling since they got on the plane in Boston that she just can’t shake.

She glances around the busy airport bar, but no one seems particularly out of place. 

“Would you relax? Have another drink,” Ernie chides.

“I feel like we’re being watched,” she replies.

“You’re paranoid. Just chill and enjoy the trip to the untamed wilderness!”

“I hope you get eaten by a moose!” she replies as she sticks her tongue out at him and downs the rest of her drink.

There’s been no word from Flynn or Connor by the time they reach Alaska. Since it’s late, they decide to stay overnight in Anchorage and wait to hear whether they need to go any further or not. Jiya doesn’t want to share a room with Ernie, but she also doesn’t want to be alone. She bites the bullet and shares a room with him anyway, but she’s too tired to care at that moment. She passes out the second her head hits the pillow.

Early the next morning, Jiya’s woken up by the sound of Ernie’s voice telling her to “rise and shine” as he shakes the bed violently. She cracks her eyes open and screams as she shuffles backwards towards the headboard. She didn’t expect Ernie to look like he does and it shocked her for a minute.

“What the hell do you have on?” she questions as she blinks repeatedly.

Ernie is standing before her, doing his best Han Solo on Hoth impersonation, in a full fur parka with a pair of ski goggles on.

“What? I’m dressing like the locals, blending in.”

She rolls her eyes and tumbles out of bed, running her hand through her messy hair.

“You blend in as well as Bigfoot,” she quips.

She grabs her clothes and escapes to the bathroom. After she changes, they head downstairs, eat breakfast, then pile into their rental SUV. Ernie volunteers to drive and Jiya lets him. Better that he deal with these icy, windy roads then her. 

They’re not even out of Anchorage when he decides to tell her they’re being followed.

“What! We need to ditch them. We can’t lead them straight to her!” she exclaims.

“Remind me again who we had to traipse halfway across the world to visit again?” Ernie asks.

“Someone Flynn relocated that Rittenhouse absolutely cannot get their hands on,” she shrieks.

“Have no fear, I was an ambulance driver. We’ll ditch this idiot in no time!” he informs her as he takes a sharp left at a high rate of speed.

Ernie speeds down the road, weaving in and out of smaller ones in an effort to lose the tail on them. Jiya glances back in the rearview mirror, but no longer sees the car that’s been following them.

“I think we lost them,” she announces.

“We will in a minute,” Ernie replies as he veers suddenly into an underground parking structure.

He finds a darkened corner of the parking garage and pulls into the spot.

“Grab your stuff. We have to get going.”

Jiya grabs her bag from the back and Ernie grabs his. They lock the SUV and quickly dart between the cars until they get to the other side of the lot. Ernie opens the door to a pickup truck, shrugs and climbs in. Jiya scrambles in after him and Ernie tells her to get down on the floor on the passenger side.

“What?”

“They’re looking for two people. If it looks like there’s only one person in the truck, we have a better chance to make it to Route 1 without being seen. By the time they figure out we switched vehicles, we’ll be halfway to Hope,” he explains.

“Fine,” she grumbles as she squishes herself into the tiny space on the floor.

They exit the parking structure and manage to make it to State Route 1. It’s the direct route from Anchorage to the small town and the ride should take them a little under two hours. She hopes she doesn’t have to ride like this the entire time. 

After about fifteen minutes, Ernie informs Jiya that it’s safe to sit up now. She clambers into the seat, readjusting her sweater and jacket and stretching her legs.

“Do I even want to know how you know how to shake a tail and hotwire a truck?” she questions aloud.

“Probably not. Let’s just say I’ve found myself in tons of sticky situations before and managed to get out of them all. Relax, you’re in the hands of a professional,” Ernie replies with a chuckle.

They drive amongst the snow and ice and majestic mountains for the next hour and forty-three minutes. Jiya takes the time to enjoy the stunning scenery, since this will probably be her one and only foray into the Alaskan wild.

They arrive in Hope without further incident and for the first time since this trip began, Jiya doesn’t have the distinct feeling they’re being watched or followed, to her undying relief.

The town is a small, former gold-mining town, predominantly used as a popular weekend retreat for Anchorage residents. Jiya was originally wondering how the hell they were going to find this woman since Flynn only provided her name and the name of the town, but once she sees the size and scope of Hope, it doesn’t seem like that should be too difficult a task. Everyone probably knows everyone.

Ernie pulls the truck into a parking spot at the Dirty Skillet, one of the only local restaurants and bars they have come across.

“Ernie, we don’t have time for this. We need to find some locals so that we can find this woman,” Jiya chides

“This is the _perfect_ place to do that. Plus, I wanna see if they have Eskimo beer,” Ernie replies before jumping out of the truck.

Jiya rolls her eyes and exits the truck a second later. Perhaps if she just apologizes off the bat for the behavior of her “drunk uncle” the locals won’t chase them out of town immediately. 

They enter the restaurant and are seated at a table next to the window.

“They serve the food in old-fashioned mining skillets. This place is awesome!” Ernie exclaims as he peruses the menu.

“Just-just play it cool and let me do the talking, would you?” she pleads.

He waves her off and continues to rave over the choices on the menu. _It’s going to be a long night, isn’t it?_ They’re one of the only people in the restaurant, but it did just open for dinner service a little while ago. Jiya ponders how she’s going to go about obtaining the location of the woman she’s looking for. She’s never done anything like this ever before. Ernie is a reporter, so maybe she should just let him handle this? She doesn’t even know what she’s going to say if she’s asked why she needs this information. They didn’t exactly discuss a cover story. _How the hell did she get roped into this?_

She’s not a detective or government agent, so she decides her best bet might be to just ask her waitress if she knows a girl named Bailey Noble. Flynn gave her a general description, but she might as well be searching for a needle in a haystack looking for an average girl with brown hair and brown eyes.

Their waitress approaches the table, instantly proving her point. She’s your average young woman with light brown hair and brown eyes, wearing a Dirty Skillet t-shirt and a flannel overtop, which is apparently the uniform of this establishment.

Jiya quickly checks her phone again, but finds her signal is weak to non-existent.

“Cell service is spotty at best round these parts.”

Jiya glances up from her phone at the waitress and smiles.

“Yeah, I figured. It’s alright. Less distractions that way,” she replies.

The waitress eyes Ernie warily, but he’s too nose-deep in the menu to notice.

“Well, welcome to the Dirt Skillet. My name is Bailey and I will be your server for this evening,” the woman states with a smile.

 _You have got to be kidding me._ There is no way she’s this lucky. It must be a popular name up here or something. She tries to keep her cool, just in case this is the girl she’s looking for. She doesn’t want to spook her before she gives the code word.

Bailey asks if she can take their order and Ernie of course orders moose, reindeer and a local ale. Jiya is staring wide-eyed at him, silently pleading to help her out here.

“Just order whatever you want,” Ernie states with a smile.

He’s wearing that damn smirk she hates so much, but she follows his lead and places her order. The waitress is just about to walk away when Ernie loudly asks Jiya a question.

“Hey, didn’t your Dad know someone named Bailey that lived in Alaska?”

It takes her a second to understand what’s going on here, but once she does, she plays right along.

“Uncle Ernie, the odds that this is the same person are astronomical,” she replies.

She knows this Bailey woman heard them because when she returns with their drinks, she eyes them up and down. A shiver runs down Jiya’s spine. For whatever reason, she’s positive they’ve found their girl. Normally, her witch senses will alert her to another supernatural creature, but if she wasn’t actively looking for it, she would never have known with Bailey. It’s such a faint and rare signature. She’s never encountered it before, which means it’s exactly the same for other supernatural creatures. No wonder she’s been relatively safe here for all this time. No one would know what she was because there is no one like her in this entire world (at least that they know of).

Once they finish their meal, Jiya decides it’s now or never.

“Excuse me, your name wouldn’t happen to be Bailey Noble, would it? My dad knew a woman named that in Alaska and well…”

Bailey stares back at Jiya with a confused look on her face. Jiya can sense her hesitance, so she goes a step further.

“My father’s name is Garcia Flynn. Tall as a tree, grumpy guy with a rebel without a cause look?”

“Sorry. My name’s Bailey Wallace.”

Bailey strolls back to the kitchen and Jiya is left wondering what to do next.

“So, what do we do now?” she whispers to Ernie.

“Try to leave her the message somehow, because that’s _definitely_ her,” Ernie whispers back.

“You think so too?” she questions.

“She knew Flynn without a doubt. It was written all over her face. I’m good at reading people’s faces. You have to be in my line of work to know if they’re a credible source or not,” Ernie explains.

She remembers Flynn’s warning of how many tentacles Rittenhouse has everywhere. They could be watching them right now. Ernie’s good at spotting a tail, but that doesn’t mean a Rittenhouse spy isn’t already here, biding their time. She doesn’t want to make a scene in case someone _is_ watching them that they’re unaware of, but she needs to get Bailey this message. It’s not that she doesn’t want to disappoint Flynn, (which she doesn’t), but she’s very much aware of the consequences if Rittenhouse gets ahold of Bailey. That not only doesn’t bode well for her own kind, but also werewolves, shapeshifters and every other supernatural creature that exists.

Suddenly, a burst of brilliance comes over her. She remembers back to a few occasions where she was out with her covenmate, Kate Drummond, while Kate was working on a story. She remembers one time that Kate slipped a waiter a note and met up with the man later on. She’s running out of time and options, so she’s just going to have to go for broke.

“Pay the bill, but don’t tip her. I’m going to the ladies room and I’ll meet you back out at the truck,” Jiya whispers in a commanding tone.

Thankfully, Ernie seems to catch on. He downs the remainder of _her_ beer, then strolls up to the cashier. Jiya gets up from the table and goes into the ladies’ room. She goes into one of the stalls and takes her black sharpie and a twenty dollar bill from her purse. As fast as she can, she writes the word PANDORA on the top of the bill with the sharpie. She folds the bill into her jeans’ pocket, puts her marker away, then flushes the toilet and washes her hands.

When she exits the restroom, she glances out the window and spots Ernie sitting in the truck as she instructed. She puts on her poker face and strolls towards Bailey, who is wiping down the table. 

“I’m sorry about my Uncle. He hasn’t been right since the war,” Jiya states.

“Don’t worry about it,” Bailey answers with a wave of her hand. “I hope you enjoy the rest of your trip. You staying here for the night?”

“Yeah, we are. Uncle Ernie rented us a log cabin. You know, living like the locals do,” she chuckles.

“You know we don’t live in those all year right? They’re just used for the summer.”

“Oh, I know that, but try telling the drunk uncle who knows what’s best. Speaking of, I’m sure he didn’t tip you, so…”

Jiya digs into her pocket and hands her the folded twenty dollar bill. Ernie honks the horn and scares the crap out of the both of them a second later. Jiya waves goodbye, exits the restaurant and climbs into the truck.

“Can we go now?” Ernie whines.

“Yes, we can go to the cabin now.”

“Cabin? What cabin?”

“The one I told Bailey we rented for the night,” she answers with a wink.

“Fine, but you’re paying me back for all this.”

They manage to rent a cabin and settle in for the night. Jiya tries in vain to get a cell signal for hours, but hasn’t had much luck. She’ll probably have to wait until they go back to Anchorage to check her messages. She hopes she was just overreacting by telling Bailey the code word and that Flynn isn’t in danger after all, but she’s starting to get really worried.

She set a magical perimeter around the cabin, so if someone does decide to pay them a visit, they’ll at least have advanced warning. She hopes Bailey got and understood her message, but unless she goes back to the restaurant tomorrow night, she won’t know for sure.

Suddenly, the perimeter alarms goes off inside her head. She closes her eyes and inhales deeply.

“We’ve got company,” she warns.

Ernie pulls a revolver from behind his back and points it towards the front door.

“How the hell did you get that past airport security?” she questions.

“I didn’t. There’s a reason I stole a pick-up truck and not a family sedan, Jiya.”

“It’s her. She’s here.”

Jiya flings the front door open and goes flying out the other side in a flash. The next thing she knows, her back slams into the side of the cabin. A clawed hand is around her throat squeezing, vampire fangs two inches from her neck.

“It was naïve of you to come with only another human as backup, _witch,_ ” Bailey hisses.

She’s gasping for air, trying in vain to get purchase to fight back somehow, but she’s powerless to stop Bailey. Click.

“Let her go!” Ernie yells. “We’re not a threat to you. Flynn really did send us.”

Bailey eases her grip on Jiya’s throat, but doesn’t let go.

“Pandora. He told me to find you and tell you Pandora,” she squeaks out.

Her eyes meet Bailey’s. She can’t tell if she’s getting through to her or not because her eyes are as black as a doll’s. Every so often, the distinct amber flicker of a wolf’s eyes dance in the doll’s darkness. It’s both mesmerizing and terrifying.

Suddenly, Bailey grabs the locket around Jiya’s neck and yanks it so hard she’s afraid it will decapitate her.

“This doesn’t belong to you,” Bailey growls menacingly.

Her claws slash Jiya’s neck and chest as Bailey steals the necklace. She doesn’t know what to do or what any of this means, so she closes her eyes and calls upon her magic for clarity. Her eyes shoot open a moment later and her jaw drops.

“You’re-you’re Amy. Amy Preston. Lucy’s lost sister,” she stammers.

“You know my sister?”

“Miss, whatever the hell kind of creature you are, Lucy’s the reason any of us are involved in this crazy shit. If you can help bring down Rittenhouse, you’ll be helping Lucy,” Ernie pleads.

“No one can defeat them. Lucy should run for the hills. It’s the only way,” Amy states somberly.

“Rittenhouse has Lucy,” Jiya advises. “If you know things about them, it might help us get her back.”

“Our _family_ has Lucy?” Amy questions with a look of great concern.

“Your family?” Jiya and Ernie ask in unison.


	27. Meet the Parents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy’s situation goes from bad to worse.

When the lights go out, Lucy doesn’t pay that much attention. She heard the thunder outside after all. But when the emergency lights don’t kick in immediately, she senses that something is awry. Alarms are blaring and chaos blankets the entire area, with orderlies running to and fro wearing head lamps. 

Could this be Flynn and her friends coming to rescue her? If so, she needs to be ready for anything. She waits with baited breath, praying her husband has come for her.

Then suddenly, her cell door opens and Anthony pokes his head inside.

“Lucy, come with me. I’ll help you get out of here just liked I helped Amy,” Anthony pleads with an outstretched hand.

She wants to believe him, but she’s hesitant. _What if this is a trick?_ _Did he really help Amy?_

“Please, come. There’s not much time,” Anthony calls out.

She decides to take the leap of faith and takes his hand. He leads her out of the quarantine unit and into a corridor when she suddenly stops and remembers Fei.

“There’s no time. I need to get you out of here,” Anthony warns.

They speed down another hallway to a large set of doors and open them. 

“Did you really help my sister? Was she _here_?” Lucy questions as they traverse through the darkness.

“For a little while, yes, she was. I could not let them use her as a weapon. I just couldn’t,” Anthony explains.

She’s about to ask a follow up question when a door at the end of the corridor opens and Emma and her goons stroll on through. They’ve been caught.

“Going somewhere?” Emma taunts.

Anthony stares blankly back at her for a moment and she cowers behind the taller vampire in fear.

“Just following protocol by taking Ms. Preston to the tunnel, Emma,” Anthony states calmly.

Emma eyes him warily, then nods at her orderly goons.

“We’ll take it from here. Go back and secure the witch,” Emma orders.

Anthony doesn’t even get a chance to respond before Emma shoves him out of the way and grabs Lucy. She pushes her towards the orderlies, who promptly escort her through the door and down the corridor towards the arena. 

Lucy is terrified that Emma has another round of hellish torment in store for her. In the dark, it’ll be harder for Lucy to be able to protect herself, or quell her vampire instincts. 

When the doors to the arena open, her heart sinks even more when she spots her husband. She’s worried about her own safety, but is comforted by the fact that her family wants her back, and that means Emma _can’t_ kill her without incurring their wrath. But the same doesn’t bode for her husband. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if he dies because of her.

Flynn calls out to her, but she can’t even acknowledge him. Perhaps if she acts like this is a one-sided romance, Emma will leave him be. Emma’s about to unleash whatever evilness her brain has concocted, when suddenly a load of creatures file into the arena in a murderous rage. She glances over at Emma and witnesses fear spread across the redhead’s face for perhaps the first time ever.

She orders the goons to remove Lucy from the room and despite her best efforts, she doesn’t even get once last glimpse of her husband before the doors are shut. The goons yank her hard down the hallway as she struggles to delay them long enough for Flynn to get to her. _He has to get to her. She needs to give him more time._ _But how?_ She doesn’t have a chance to think any further before Emma snaps her neck and the world goes dark.

When she comes to, darkness shrouds her in every direction. The shackles on her hands are still preventing her vampire vision from being as sharp as it normally is, so it takes her a few seconds to adjust, yet the inky blackness remains. She attempts to sit up, but whacks her head immediately. Panic is beginning to well up within her as she realizes where she is: a coffin. _No, no, no, NO!_ She bangs against the wood and screams, begging for them to let her out. She listens intently as she stops banging, but there is nothing, no one there. 

If she didn’t have these stupid handcuffs on, she’d be able to break out of here in a heartbeat. Depending on where Emma is keeping her, she could literally be left down here desiccating away for the next seven centuries. Her logical mind knows she won’t suffocate and die since she’s _already_ dead, but her panic attacks never seem to get the memo. 

After what feels like hours on end, there’s finally movement. The entire coffin shifts and bangs about, tossing her from side to side. With her human side being dominant right now, bruising begins to form from all the jostling. She tries to calm herself and conserve her energy, but the anxiety continues to grow exponentially.

She has no clue how much time passes once the jostling stops, but eventually she hears voices coming from above.

“You brought her here in a coffin!”

“Your daughter was being difficult and it was the best I could do under the emergent circumstances of our departure,” Emma replies. “Really, Carol, you need to stop babying her so much.”

“Where’s Dr. Bruhl?” Carol questions.

“Exactly what I’d like to know!” a male voice booms in the distance.

“Dead in a ditch, blown to smithereens. Who knows?” Emma shrugs.

“That was not the plan, Emma!” the male voice yells.

“Plans change,” another male voice calls out from the other end of the room.

As she listens intently, she can finally make out that one of the males is her father and the other, her grandfather, Nicholas. It’s clear her parents are on one side and Nicholas and Emma on the other, which means her great-grandfather will become the arbiter of this dispute. This just keeps going from bad to worse to awful, especially if he’s involved.

“Nothing has changed!” her mother exclaims.

“We’ll see what father says about that,” Nicholas laughs evilly.

“Indeed we will,” Carol huffs.

“In the meantime, we need to find another doctor to finish Dr. Bruhl’s work. I’ll get started looking for other candidates immediately,” Benjamin advises.

“Fine!” Nicholas exclaims with a wave of his hand. “I’ll let you know when father has arrived. Try not to lose your precious princess in the interim.”

Footsteps echo on the tile as they pass by the coffin, a door slam following a moment later. Then, without another sound, the lid to the coffin is lifted. Bright light causes her to wince and slam her eyes shut. She can feels arms around her as they lift her from the coffin, but they’re not the arms she wants to be holding her, even if they gently place her down into a nearby chair.

“Lucy. Lucy, sweetheart, please look at us,” Carol pleads.

She forces her eyes open and glares at her parents menacingly.

“Are you alright? Say something darling,” her father begs.

“Let. Me. Out,” she practically growls.

Benjamin and Carol glance at each other in confusion.

“You’re already out of the coffin, sweetheart,” her mother confirms.

“Let me out of these!” Lucy yells as she shoves her handcuffed arms into her mother’s face. “Unless…unless you plan on treating me as the captive that I am.”

“It’s for your own good, darling. We’ll remove them shortly,” Benjamin advises.

“You’ll remove them now or not at all!”

She’s trying to be brave and stand up to her parents. It would be much easier if Flynn were here with her, but it’s not like she hasn’t stood up to them once before. She just did it by disobeying and running, not by telling them off to their faces.

“Lucy, sweetheart. What has gotten into you?” Carol questions.

She can’t believe what she’s hearing right now. _What has gotten into her?_ _She’s been on her own for two-hundred years and they have the gall to act as if they still know her?_

“Let’s see, I’ve been kidnapped from my home and my life, forced to kill another creature for sport, and used as a guinea pig and you want to know what’s wrong with me?” she snaps.

“That was Nicholas and Emma’s doing and they will be dealt with accordingly once grandfather arrives,” Carol informs her.

“In the meantime, we’re going to do everything to make you comfortable and feel at home,” her father states.

“I have a home and this isn’t it! Why are you doing this? I was happy where I was.”

“Enough!” Carol screams. “You will take your rightful place among this family or you will be locked away until you see the light. Emma’s correct. I’ve indulged your insolence for too long.”

Her mother storms out of the room and slams the door behind her, leaving her father to hover over her.

“Lucy, please reconsider. We’re not asking too much of you. Noah will make you happy, you’ll see.”

Her father pats her on the head like some misbehaving child, then leaves as well. She glances around the room and finds it filled with her belongings from multiple lifetimes ago. It’s as if they’ve bottled her previous life so that she can slip back into it seamlessly, like nothing has changed in the last two centuries. She refuses to give into their machinations. She will fight, play possum, or play double-agent. She will do whatever it takes to get out of here and back to Flynn and her friends. She just has to, even if it takes her another hundred years.

A little while later, the door to her chamber is unlocked. She’s mentally preparing herself for round two with her parents, when a different face pops his head inside the door.

“Lucy. Do you-”

“Grandpa!” she interjects as she jumps up from her chair and runs to him.

She tries to hug him, but her shackles get tangled.

“What-what have they done to you child?” Ethan asks with concern.

“Grandpa, please help me. I don’t know what Rittenhouse has planned for me, but I know it’s not good.”

“You know I would if I could, but your father keeps close tabs on me. You wouldn’t get very far,” Ethan answers as he stares down at his feet.

Grandpa Ethan has always been kind to her and is truly the only member of her family besides Amy that she can tolerate, but he’s not in a position of power any longer. Her father saw to that as soon as he could. She knows he’s being sincere about helping her if he was able, though. He helped her escape the first time after all.

“Here, drink this,” Ethan states as he hands her a bag of blood. “You need to keep your strength up. I will see if I can find out what they plan to do with you now that you’re back with the family,” he advises as he places a kiss to her forehead.

She begs him to stay a little longer, just to keep her company, but he scurries towards the door instead.

“I will be back…later.”

The door shuts softly behind him and he’s gone as fast as he appeared. Once again, she’s left alone with her thoughts and worry. She hopes Grandpa Ethan is able to find out what her family’s plan is so that she can figure out what to do. Everything happened so fast she hasn’t even had time to process it all. She especially wants to know what Dr. Bruhl did to help her sister, but that seems impossible now that he’s dead. It would’ve been the first fresh lead on Amy in a hundred years. Now, she’s left with nothing to go on except Emma’s taunting. Even if Emma told her what happened, she could never trust the information anyway. Perhaps there are others here she could elicit it from.

She slumps back down into her chair, rips open the bag of blood and feeds. She closes her eyes and pretends it’s Flynn’s neck, relishing in the memory of the love and comfort it represents. She’s positive she could face anything with him besides her, but she prays he doesn’t try to find her here. The last thing she needs is the vision the witches gave her coming true. If her great-grandfather killed her husband, she wouldn’t survive it. She _couldn’t_ survive that. 

After she finishes the bag, she shoves it underneath the cushion of the chair. She knows her grandpa went out on a limb to bring it to her, so she doesn’t want to endanger him by being careless. Careless will get him killed; could get _her_ killed. She focuses intently, knowing the chess match has begun. Lucy plans to be a queen, not the pawn; not this time. 


	28. Romeo Is Broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rufus reunites with the rest of the team and they find out what really went on in these buildings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize this took so long to post. I've been really struggling with massive writer's block lately. Hope this is still enjoyable as I work through it.

Rufus did not expect the building to explode. He sits there shaking his head, wondering how he got back into human form. He remembers being thrown from the blast, but that’s about it until he woke up. He hopes that none of his friends were inside when it happened. He’d be better able to assess his situation if Connor wasn’t freaking out on his com-link right now.

“Connor, I’m gonna try to find out what happened. All I know is it was some kind of explosion. I’ll let you know as soon as I can find out.”

He finds the spot that he stashed his clothes and throws them on. He scans the trees in search of Denise or any of the rest of the team, but can’t seem to locate any of them. He traverses the woods cautiously, but doesn’t find any Rittengoons lying in wait. He approaches the edge of the woods and spots Jessica and Wyatt standing overtop a burned, but healing, Garcia Flynn. 

He rushes towards his friends and asks them what happened. Jess and Wyatt explain that they think Emma got away with Lucy and then blew the building. Flynn sits motionless, staring into the smoldering wreckage in front of him.

“What broke Romeo?” he whispers to Jess.

“I failed her Rufus!”

The big, scary vampire is nothing more than a whimpering pile of despair. _Guess it doesn’t matter what you are. When you lose love, you crumble._

Suddenly, they see multiple figures stumbling through the smoke towards them. A soot-covered Denise and a few new friends are coughing and gasping for air, but they’re alive.

“Where’s Lucy?” Denise questions as she looks around.

“Emma took her,” both Flynn and one of the men with Denise answer in unison.

“And, you are?” Rufus asks with indignation.

“Forever grateful for your assistance. Dr. Anthony Bruhl,” the man states with an outstretched hand.

Suddenly, Flynn flies into a rage. He jumps up from the ground and pounces on Dr. Bruhl in under two seconds flat. His fangs are bared and he’s squeezing the older vampire’s neck with all his might. It takes him, Jessica and Wyatt to pull Flynn off.

“What the hell are you doing?” he snaps.

“What did you do to Lucy?” Flynn interrogates.

“I-I tried to help her, just like I did her sister,” Anthony stammers.

The little girl interrupts Flynn.

“The doctor didn’t hurt us. It was the others. He’s telling the truth,” Fei pleads.

“She’s right,” the other woman with them pipes up. “Dr. Bruhl was forced into this.”

“And, you are?” he questions.

“My name is Alice. Alice Paul,” she states as she extends her hand.

He shakes it, then turns back to Flynn.

“You need to stop. We won’t find Lucy if you kill our leads,” he warns.

“There’s no need to search for her. I know exactly where they’re going,” Anthony advises.

“Well?” Flynn growls.

“Rittenhouse Manor in San Francisco.”

Rufus gets a distinct chill that runs down his spine. For whatever reason, all he can picture is some spooky, wanna-be Dracula’s castle with Alcatraz in the background.

“Then, that’s where we’ll go,” Flynn proclaims.

He has no clue where his courage is stemming from, but he clamps down on Flynn’s shoulders with both hands.

“One does not simply walk into Mordor.”

Jessica, Anthony and Fei all chuckle.

“What the hell are you talking about Rufus?” Wyatt questions.

He can only roll his eyes at this uncultured fool.

“What kind of security are we talking about here?” Denise questions Anthony.

“You have a better chance of infiltrating the White House,” Anthony answers. “It’s a fortress with state-of-the-art security that’s patrolled around the clock. And, like the White House, only the family is permitted on the upper floors.”

“Where would they keep Lucy then?” Denise asks.

Anthony stares strangely at them, pausing slightly as he opens his mouth.

“But she _is_ family. Isn’t that what you were going to say doctor?” Flynn grumbles.

“What?” the team asks in unison.

Anthony nods his head.

“Flynn, you misunderstood. Lucy said that her Mom was Rittenhouse, but that doesn’t make _her_ Rittenhouse,” Jessica declares.

“It’s not just Lucy’s mother,” Anthony informs them. “Her father is Rittenhouse as well.”

“That’s why Emma calls her princess, isn’t it?” Flynn questions.

Anthony explains that Lucy isn’t just descended from two Rittenhouse parents, she’s descended from the patriarch himself.

“ _The_ Rittenhouse?” he gasps.

“Yes, David Rittenhouse. Lucy’s his great-granddaughter. She’s the last Rittenhouse heir,” Anthony clarifies.

He shakes his head vehemently. There is no way that his kind, sweet friend is related to these evil monsters.

“She lied to us?” Jessica asks in disbelief.

“She lied to all of us. And, I _married_ her,” Flynn laments.

“Technically, she didn’t lie. She just omitted a great deal of truth,” Denise interjects.

Suddenly, the ground shakes beneath their feet, throwing them all off balance.

“Stop! Just stop!” Fei shrieks with her hands balled into fists. “Lucy is brave, selfless and kind and I won’t hear another word to the contrary. She gave herself up to save me and we don’t even know each other. She tried to help. She’s appalled by what her family is doing. She wouldn’t abandon me, so I’m not abandoning her. We have a bevy of creatures here with all sorts of special skills. I think we can come up with something.”

“We want to help as well,” Alice adds. “The few of us that remain.”

Lucy’s not even here and she has done the impossible. She has rallied creatures of every sort to the cause, uniting centuries-old enemies into a rag-tag army. Everyone except for Flynn agrees they want to try to rescue Lucy from Rittenhouse Manor.

“She lied to me. Did she even love me or was I just a way for her to stick it to her family?” Flynn asks.

He can see the utter anguish on the vamp’s face, the doubt that what they had was all a lie. But he can’t let this happen. They need Flynn if they are going to be successful.

“You’re kidding me right? I’ve known Lucy for years now. She loves you. Why? I have _absolutely_ no clue, but she does,” he informs Flynn.

“I completely agree. Lucy was willing to give up her home and her business in Salem and run away with you. She wouldn’t do that for a fling,” Jessica advises.

“Then, why lie about being Rittenhouse, hmm?”

“Maybe because she was afraid you’d react just like this. Listen man, I’m not as old as you are, but did you ever think Lucy was afraid of losing you? I don’t know all of her backstory, but I know enough. She’s suffered enough at the hands of her family, are you really going to do it to her as well?” he pleads.

He has no idea why, but for some reason, he seems to be finally getting through to Flynn.

“No, I won’t. She’s my wife. I love her and I will never give up until I get her back,” Flynn declares.

“There’s one thing that still bugs me though. Anthony, if Lucy is Rittenhouse, why didn’t they just bring her to the manor? Why bring her here?” he questions.

Anthony tugs at the collar of his shirt as he shifts his weight back and forth.

“Her parents wanted her brought straight to the manor. I was to take my genetic samples once she arrived, but Emma brought her here instead. I didn’t think anything of it at first, until I received word from her grandfather, Nicholas. He’s the one running the experiments, the one lording my family’s safety over my head,” Anthony explains.

“Genetic samples for what?” Flynn growls.

Again, Anthony seems to be uncomfortable with the words he’s about to convey, but he goes into detail explaining the goal of Nicholas’ experiments and her parents interest as well.

“Her parents were only interested in knowing whether Lucy had the same genetic mutation as her half-sister did. They claim they were trying to protect her and I-I believe them. But, Nicholas, he-he has more nefarious intentions. He wants to be able to extract the powers and magic of other creatures,” Anthony elaborates.

“So, he can give them to himself?” he asks with indignation.

“Not in the way you think. He would never risk being disinherited by his father by sullying his pureblood status by truly becoming a hybrid. Nicholas’ goal is more of a…temporary transformation.”

The entire team exchange worried glances.

“Wait-wait, are you telling me he wants to do a day in the life of a werewolf?” he gasps.

“Uh, in a way, but it’s more like the desire for a designer drug that only the purebloods will have access to,” Anthony confides.

“So, you’re telling me Nicholas could take a werewolf pill and he’d live if he was bitten?” he questions in horror.

Anthony just nods in response. A thousand, terrifying thoughts twirl through his brain. Silence hangs over them like the stillness of a secluded forest. They all know what this could mean, none of which bode well for non-pureblooded vampires. Not only could he no longer have any defense to a vampire attack, but his entire species could be wiped out.

“Additionally-”

“There’s something _else_?” Flynn bellows.

“The patriarch has his own designs. His interests are much more sinister, if you can believe it,” Anthony advises.

“The man who makes Vlad the Impaler look like a Boy Scout? Yeah, we can believe it,” he quips.

“It’s why he wanted the little witch. She’s part of his grand, master plan,” Anthony adds.

“What _is_ his plan?” he questions.

“I don’t know all of it. He’d never confide in someone like me. What I do know is that it has something to do with tissue regeneration and time travel.”

Wyatt chuckles, but no one else does.

“Oh, come on! You can’t think time travel is real people!” Wyatt exclaims.

“But it is real…for those who have the gift,” Fei clarifies.

“Wait, you can time travel?” he asks as he raises an eyebrow.

Fei peers up at Denise and the older woman nods her head.

“Yes, I can. But it’s dangerous, even for those of us that understand what they’re doing,” Fei informs them.

“So, what in the past is the old man trying to reanimate?” Denise questions.

Anthony advises that he’s not privy to that part of the plan, but he knows that Lucy is involved somehow. Rescuing her has a new urgency, and unless he wants Flynn to go off on a suicide mission, this team needs to come up with a plan of attack.

“We need to regroup. We need to know exactly what we’re dealing with and what skills and magic we have at our disposal,” Flynn declares suddenly.

“I want to help,” Alice calls out from the back of the pack. “I’m sure that I can convince others to join our cause and I won’t even need to use my gift to do it.”

“What exactly is your gift? You’re not a wolf or a vampire. I’d smell it on you,” he asks.

“No, I’m not. I’m a siren,” Alice answers.

“Are there more of you?” Flynn questions.

“Yes. They will stand with us. Of that, I am sure,” Alice answers firmly.

“And, you can affect vampires as well as you affect humans?” Flynn asks.

Alice nods in agreement and he cringes internally. He can see the wheels turning in Flynn’s head and he’s honestly afraid of whatever insane plan he’ll think up. There is no coming back from this. If they fail, they will be hunted down, tortured and killed. Unlike Frodo and Sam, there will be nowhere for them to hide, no safe haven or harbor. Yet, if they don’t fight back, they will most likely either be subjugated or exterminated. Neither option is appealing to him. He knows what must be done, he just wants to ensure they do it as intelligently as possible. They’ll only get one shot at this.

Flynn instructs Jessica to give Alice one of their burner phones and then to gather as many creatures as she can and head towards San Francisco where she will await further instructions.

“In the meantime, we need to get to California and find a new base of operations,” Flynn announces. “Denise, call the coven, we’re going to need all the help we can get.”

“Crap! We forgot to call Jiya!” he shrieks suddenly.

“Call her now. Tell her to meet us in San Fran,” Flynn advises.

He whips out his phone and calls, but Jiya isn’t picking up. He leaves a voice mail for her to call him immediately, then sends her a text as well.

“Keep trying. Reception is spotty where she is.”

He wants to make sure his girlfriend is safe too, especially when Flynn is looking more concerned by the minute the longer he can’t get in touch with her. If something happened to her in Alaska, he’ll hold Flynn responsible (not that he can take the vamp in a fight, but he’ll still hold him responsible).

“We need to get out of here before the authorities show up,” Anthony warns.

They part ways with Alice and a few of the other remaining creatures that seem to follow her, then pile into the vehicle and speed off into the distance. He just hopes he hears from Jiya soon because he’s really starting to worry about both her safety and her sanity.


	29. Hybrid Theory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang in Alaska has unwanted company. Amy explains the cause of her relocation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't updated this in a while. To be honest, I had no desire to write for a bit and spent a good chunk of my free time on Immortally Yours once I finally did feel like writing. But, I'm back and working on this now, so updates should be more frequent in the future.

Amy opens her mouth to explain her “our family” statement, when suddenly there is movement along the tree line. Two vampires dart out from the woods straight for Amy and Jiya. Ernie tries to shoot at them, but they dodge the bullets easily. Jiya barely has time to think before Amy springs into action. With vampire super speed, she closes the gap in a second, then shifts mid-air into a wolf before crashing down on top of them. Amy’s jaws snap and snarl, ripping the first vampire’s head clean off with one bite. The second vamp gets to his feet and Amy shifts back into her vampire self, except for the large claws where her hands should be. They are not quite wolf’s paws, nor are they extra-long vampire fingernails, but something completely foreign. The vamp charges at Amy and she holds him back with one claw.

“Will they _ever_ learn?” Amy questions aloud before decapitating the vampire.

Jiya and Ernie stand next to each other with their mouths agape in utter shock. She’s literally in the presence of a supernatural, one-woman killing-machine, with the strength of a hundred-vampires in one tiny frame. It is unnatural, unbelievable and unsettling to say the least. She thought she knew what she was getting into, but seeing Amy with her own eyes has been an earth-shattering experience.

“What-what _are_ you?” Ernie gasps.

“She’s a hybrid; half vampire, half werewolf,” Jiya answers.

“And, that’s special, right?” Ernie questions.

She glares back at him with her best “duh” face. She uses her magic to heal her wound, then meets Amy’s eyes.

“I believe you. I will explain it all, but we should get inside before you two freeze,” Amy suggests.

“Is that wise?” Ernie whispers.

She nods her head and the three of them climb back inside the warmth of the cabin. After a few awkward moments of silence, Amy informs them they can ask her whatever they wish and she will answer honestly. Jiya has a thousand questions, but she doesn’t want to be rude.

“Alright! Twenty questions. I love this game!” Ernie advises as he pulls up a chair next to the two women. “We should have beer for this, but-”

“Ignore him. Flynn made me bring him along for some reason,” she interrupts.

“Why didn’t he come himself? Is he…?”

“He’s alright as far as I know, but I’m still waiting for confirmation. He went after Lucy who was being held in some Rittenhouse complex.”

“I pray he’s successful. My family is evil and I do not want what happened to me to happen to my sister.”

“What happened to you?” Ernie questions.

“Ernie!”

“It’s alright. I don’t mind. It all started when I encouraged Lucy to break off her engagement and live the life she wanted to lead, instead of the one my mother had meticulously planned out for her. While Lucy was gallivanting around Europe, I learned about my mother’s secret affair with a man named Henry Wallace. He’s my real father. Since I am only a half-pureblood, great-grandfather Rittenhouse decreed that I could no longer be a part of the family. He condemned me to death, because I knew too much,” Amy advises.

“Nice grandpa. Geeze,” Ernie replies.

“The man is obsessed with his bloodline. He always has been, but it became even worse when his son John was killed. He believes his other son, Nicholas, is too greedy and impertinent to rule the family and my mother is too weak and emotional. He wants to groom Lucy in case something happens to him so that Rittenhouse will live on for eternity. But, Lucy wants no part of them and he will have to break her in order to accomplish this. Which, is where I come in. He ordered my mother to have me killed. I was to be hunted down like the mongrel I was. Rittenhouse means everything to her, even more than her own child, so she agreed to it. They set me loose upon the grounds of Rittenhouse Manor and released their hounds.”

“What are they, Mr. Burns?” Ernie laughs.

“I assume you don’t mean literal hounds, as in dogs,” Jiya surmises.

“No. Rittenhouse Manor is guarded not only by vampires, but their loyal werewolf lapdogs. It’s one of the reasons the place is virtually impenetrable,” Amy answers.

“Why would werewolves agree to be their lapdogs? Aren’t you all supposed to be engaged in _MORTAL COMBAT_?” Ernie asks with an exaggerated flair mocking the old video game.

“Again, ignore him.”

“It’s alright,” Amy states with a wave of her hand.

She tells Amy to continue with her story, ignoring Ernie as he pretends to pop popcorn into his mouth.

“There was nowhere for me to escape. I was bitten multiple times, but luckily they didn’t tear me to shreds. Apparently, mother had given explicit instructions not to. The pain was excruciating. The venom spread like fire through my body. Yet, I did not die. Instead, my bones started breaking and I-I changed,” Amy recounts.

Listening to Amy’s story is making her sick. How could any mother do that to their child? She can tell it’s not easy for Amy to relive her story, even now, but she’s glad she’s telling them everything.

“My goddess. I-I’m so sorry. No one should have to go through what you went through,” she states as she places her hand on top of Amy’s.

Amy glances sidelong at their hands, so she pulls back immediately. She only meant to show empathy to her, not make her more uncomfortable or upset.

“It gets worse,” Amy states as she glances blankly at the fire. “They weren’t prepared for what happened to me, nor would they allow such an abomination to remain on the family estate, so they shipped me across the country to their unethical lab where they continued to perform experiment upon experiment on me. They were able to figure out that I had a specific genetic mutation that molded the werewolf virus and incorporated it as part of my DNA.”

“Like a computer rewriting its own code,” she adds with a nod of her head.

“I guess. Math and science were never my strong suit. The point is, they were only interested in finding out how they actually _could_ kill me, so the scientist they blackmailed into performing the tests helped me escape the lab. I took out half their men running through the mine field and the rest of them by hand. They kept sending creatures after me, and I kept killing them. But, life on the run gets old fast and I didn’t know how to properly hide. I had no money, no allies, and nowhere to run that Rittenhouse wouldn’t find me. I needed to disappear, but I had no clue how to do it,” Amy advises.

“That’s how you met Flynn, isn’t it?”

Amy nods her head in agreement, a huge smile spreading across her face as she recalls the memory.

“I vetted him. Followed him, even. It’s not like I know every member of Rittenhouse, so I had to be sure. Once I felt comfortable enough, I approached his associate and they brought him in on the case as a ‘special consultant.’ He knew the risk, as did his associate. He relocated me after his associate gave me a new identity, and prepared me for the day I might have to do it again. What a loveable grump,” Amy reminisces.

“Grumpy, yes. Loveable?” Ernie jokes.

“Is that how you met him?” Amy questions.

“He did save my life, but I wasn’t a witness he needed to relocate,” she explains.

“So, how do you know my sister?”

She tells Amy the story of how she met Lucy and the origins of their unlikely friendship. She thinks back to the day she met this incredibly brave vampire who moved to a town full of witches.

“My coven warned me to stay away from her, but it’s almost impossible not to like your sister. I already had one vampire friend, what would it hurt to have another? That was three-years ago,” she laughs.

“And you?” Amy asks Ernie.

“She lets me drink at her bar. And, she doesn’t take my shit, which I find incredibly sexy,” Ernie answers as he wags his eyebrows suggestively.

“Gross.”

“There is one thing I’m not quite clear on though,” Amy advises.

She tells her to ask away, that she’ll honestly answer any question Amy might have.

“How does Flynn factor into my sister’s kidnapping?”

Ernie gives her a look advising he’s not touching that question with a ten-foot pole.

“Uh, Flynn came to town to see me, but he uh, he met Lucy and well…”

“Shacked up with her,” Ernie finishes.

She glares at Ernie.

“ _What_?”

“They more than just shacked up. They got married,” she corrects.

“And didn’t invite any of us,” Ernie complains.

Amy breaks down in a fit of giggles.

“Vampires don’t marry like humans do. It’s a blood ritual, so unless you’re regularly accompanying them into their bed at night, you’re not going to be invited,” Amy laughs. “I can’t believe my sister married Flynn. Wait, does my family know about that?”

“I don’t think so. Would that matter?” she asks.

“It would to great-grandfather. It could put Lucy in more danger than she’s already in. You need to talk to Flynn immediately. I assume he’s the one leading this charge to find my sister, correct?”

She and Ernie nod in unison.

“Call him. This isn’t something he can do on his own. If my family has her, it’ll _literally_ take a village,” Amy emphasizes.

Jiya fumbles around in her coat pocket, searching for her phone, before she remembers she threw it in her purse. She locates the phone and notices there are multiple missed calls and text messages from Rufus. She attempts to call him back, but she can’t get any service. Amy suggests she use her satellite phone to call him. Jiya begins to enter Rufus’ number into Amy’s sat phone when Amy suddenly grabs her forearm.

“Don’t tell Flynn that I’m Lucy’s sister. I want to be able to tease my brother-in-law myself,” Amy instructs.

She smirks back at her and changes gears as soon as Rufus answers the call. She learns they successfully rescued Fei, but Lucy was taken. Rufus is literally mid-sentence when Flynn confiscates the phone and demands to know what happened in Alaska.

“Did you get her the message in time?” Flynn barks.

She’s definitely not used to being spoken to in that tone from anyone, let alone her first vampire friend, so shock sets in before she can respond. Amy snatches the phone out of her hand, as Jiya stares back at her dumbfounded.

“We’re fine. Everything’s fine here. How are you making out, you old grump?” Amy teases.

“What the hell are you still doing there? You should be long gone!” Flynn yells so loud that Jiya and Ernie can hear him loud and clear across the room.

“Yes, Dad,” Amy laughs. “I’m going to help your friends get out and then I will be on a plane. Remember, I can take care of myself.”

“You’re not invincible. And, you’re too important. If Rittenhouse finds you-”

“They already did. I know I’m not invincible. Nothing is. But, since I haven’t been able to figure out what actually _will_ kill me, I think I’m in pretty good shape. But, you still haven’t answered me. How are you doing? Did you get your friends out of the lab?” Amy asks.

“We got one of them out. Rittenhouse took the other, though. Wait, how did you know about that?”

“Jiya told me. I’m sorry. Do you need help? I could come-”

“Absolutely not! You need to run and hide. In fact, don’t even tell me where you’re going or wind up. It’s better that I don’t know,” Flynn advises.

“But-”

“But nothing! Leave now and put Jiya back on the phone.”

Amy smirks in amusement and hands the phone back over to Jiya. She gets instructions from Flynn to meet them in San Francisco as soon as possible and then hangs up.

“So, where are we off to now?” Ernie moans.

“San Francisco,” Jiya replies.

“They took her home. You most definitely need my help. I can literally tell you about every square inch of that property. Grab your things. We need to catch a plane as fast as possible,” Amy instructs.

They gather their belongings and pile into Amy’s SUV, leaving their stolen truck at the cabin. They drive back to Anchorage, finally stopping at a small hangar on the outskirts of the airport.

“Why are we stopping?” she asks.

“We can’t go into the airport and risk Rittenhouse having someone there. I know a pilot who owes me a favor. He’ll fly us to Seattle, refuel, and then we’ll head down the coast to San Francisco. It’s our best chance,” Amy explains.

Jiya and Ernie wait at the entrance to the hangar as Amy goes and speaks to her pilot friend. The next thing they know, Amy reemerges and tells them to get on board. The only plane in sight is a small sea plane.

“We’re flying in that?” she questions.

“Come on, Jiya. Where’s your sense of adventure?” Ernie teases before boarding the plane.

She’s had enough adventure to last her a lifetime. All she wants to do is get to San Francisco, hug and kiss Rufus, rescue Lucy and go home. But, she has a horrible feeling that that’s going to be easier said than done.


	30. The Tribunal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy faces her great-grandfather’s wrath.

Lucy wakes the next morning, feeling more like herself, but not quite one-hundred percent back to normal. If it hadn’t been for her grandfather, Ethan, she would be starving by now. Apparently, that’s her family’s goal; to keep her in a weakened and fragile state in order to force her into doing their bidding. She’ll play along for now, but she will not give into their machinations this time.

She needs to escape this place, so she becomes singularly focused on doing just that. The only problem is, she needs to find a way out of this room first. She must ingratiate herself with the family enough for them to allow her to roam the grounds freely. Otherwise, she has no chance of ever escaping the manor.

She bangs on the door until it finally opens. Bonnie is standing there with a smug smirk on her face.

“What the hell do you want?”

“I’d like to feed and take a shower,” Lucy demands.

“You can shower and change, but you can’t feed…yet,” Bonnie replies as she shoves her down the hallway.

She really wants to ask Bonnie why she’s doing this, because the witch is delusional if she thinks taking up with her family will end well for her. But, if she’s going to get out of here, she’s going to have to keep her mouth shut. 

They make it to the end of the hall and Lucy opens the door to the bathroom. At least they had modern plumbing installed in the manor years ago. If it were up to her great-grandfather, they’d be bathing in iron tubs still. Before she shuts the bathroom door, Lucy asks Bonnie about clothing to change into.

“You’ll wear whatever you have in your closet.”

“But, they’re two hundred years old!”

“Tough!” Bonnie laughs, as she slams the door in Lucy’s face.

As the water beads down onto her tired and sore body, all Lucy can think about is Flynn and getting back to him. Will he still have her after everything he’s sure to discover in his search? If he won’t, well then, she’s the fool for giving her heart over to him. Sure, they will forever be bonded together by their heart’s blood, but it doesn’t mean she has to sit and pine and cry over him. She’ll go on, just as she always has. She’ll just be a little more broken than before.

Once she’s clean again, she exits the bathroom in nothing but her towel and saunters down the hallway back towards her room like she owns the place. She knows they’re keeping a watchful eye over her even if she can’t see them, so she acts as if nothing is wrong whatsoever.

Once she’s inside her room, she finds a burgundy polka dot dress lying on the bed accompanied by a handwritten note and a red rose lying on top. She doesn’t even need to read the note. She knows who it’s from: Noah. No one else would leave a red rose for her.

She gingerly picks up the note, which turns out to be an invitation to brunch. She knows she can’t refuse it, even if she has no desire to see him again. He will undoubtedly believe they can pick right up where they left off, so she will have to fight the urge to cringe if he makes an advance at her. The last thing she wants to do is tip her family off to how much Flynn means to her. Her vision _cannot_ come true. She _cannot_ allow it.

She changes into her new dress, does her hair and puts some makeup on. But, instead of hiding the fact that she’s extra pale even for a vampire, she uses the makeup to enhance her gauntness. She _wants_ Noah’s sympathy. She can exploit it for her own advantage. She has to take any she can get right now.

A few moments later, there’s a knock on her door. She smooths out her dress, checks herself once more in the mirror, and then opens the door.

“Lucy, you look…as beautiful as ever,” Noah declares as he gazes at her with heart eyes.

She smiles back at him, advising that he looks good as well. He takes her hand in his and brings it to his lips for a lingering kiss. Internally, she is gagging. She only wants one pair of lips kissing her and it’s not these, but she must play along.

He escorts her downstairs to the formal dining room, where an entire lavish spread awaits them. There is an arrangement of red roses gracing the center, and crystal champagne flutes and fine china that more closely resemble ancient artifacts than dinnerware.

Noah pulls out her chair for her, then pops a bottle that looks like champagne, but isn’t.

“I pulled out a special blend for us, my dear. Martyr’s blood from 1418,” Noah informs her as he pours into her crystal flute glass.

The brunch proceeds in much the same fashion as she expected; Noah professing his undying love for her over and over again. She tries her best to appear flattered by his attention, but she knows she’s struggling to be convincing. Her heart just isn’t in it. It belongs to another.

“Lucy, I know things have been strained between us, but you must know that we belong together. If you marry me, it will not only please your parents, but I believe it will also please the patriarch as well. We could have untold power and influence. Lucy, please, don’t be childish. Accept my hand in marriage. I promise, you won’t regret it,” Noah pleads.

She is not prepared for this in the slightest. Sure, she knew he would profess his undying love during their meal, but another marriage proposal? You’d think being rejected once would be enough to at least give him pause, but apparently not. All she wants to do is scream in his face that she cannot marry him, because she already has a _husband_ , but that would only serve to place Flynn in danger. So, she has to think of something and think of it fast.

“Noah, you flatter me. But, I need time before I can make such a momentous decision. Honestly, I still feel sort of peakish from the journey here. And, you know I’m not the sort of person who makes rash, spur-of-the-moment decisions,” she counters.

Noah laughs and she in turn gives him the side-eye. She demands to know what’s so funny.

“I hardly doubt three-hundred years constitutes spur-of-the-moment, my dear.”

She doesn’t get the chance to contradict him before a commotion in the hall grabs her attention. There is banging and jostling of furniture, along with hurried footsteps, before the dining room door flies open and her great-grandfather rumbles in. 

“You!” he declares as he points straight at her. “You should be in your room. I left explicit instructions for you to be confined to quarters until I arrived. Who let you out? Who dare disobey my command?” the old man barks.

It has been two-hundred years since she has laid eyes on the patriarch of the family, yet the man has continued to haunt her dreams and nightmares as if she had never left the fold. She was always afraid of him, and that hasn’t changed either. She _knows_ the evil this man is capable of.

“I did, my Lord. I was not made aware of your decree. I beg your forgiveness,” Noah pleads as he falls down to his knees.

Rittenhouse ignores Noah’s groveling and motions to his bodyguards to escort Lucy back to her room.

“I will call you before the tribunal later and you will be _dealt_ with then,” her great-grandfather snarls at her.

His goons forcefully drag her from the dining room and lock her back in her bedroom. She knew he’d be pissed that she deserted the family and took off, but based on his response, she may have underestimated his anger and rage. Now, all she can do is sit, wait and worry.

It feels like an eternity before she is escorted back downstairs to the parlor to face the tribunal. Her great-grandfather sits at the center of one end of the room, her grandfather, Nicholas, and her mother flanking his sides. Her father, Benjamin, is on the other side of her mother. On the opposite side of the room, there are chairs that comprise the gallery, where the spectators will sit and observe as the tribunal judges her.

She is led to the center of the room, where the guards once again place the magical handcuffs on her wrists and then secure the shackles to a chain imbedded in the floor. Once she is secure, the members of the gallery file in, including Emma, Noah, her other grandfather, Ethan, the former members of the Salem Coven, and various other vampires and werewolves that she doesn’t know.

Nicholas stands, then unfurls a scroll he’s been holding. 

“Lucy Elizabeth Preston, pureblooded daughter of Carol Preston and Benjamin Cahill, you stand accused of the following charges against you: desertion; murder; accessory to murder; conspiracy to commit murder; sedition; conspiracy to commit sedition; and treason,” Nicholas announces. “How do you plead?”

“I-I…”

“How do you _plead_?” Nicholas violently screams in her face.

“Not guilty!”

A hush falls over the gallery, as Nicholas stares daggers back at her and her father and mother gaze blankly in her direction. Her great-grandfather, however, narrows his eyes and smirks wickedly as he looks her up and down, sending a shiver down her spine.

“Fine,” Nicholas growls with a flash of his fangs. “The family will call its first witness: Carol Preston.”

Her mother stands, but remains in place as Nicholas begins to question her.

“Prior to yesterday, when was the last time you heard from or saw the accused?”

“1820,” Carol answers coldly.

“Two-hundred years without contacting your family. What say you?” Nicholas grumbles.

The people in the gallery wait with baited breath to hear what she has to say, yet she has no idea what words will come out of her mouth. She has no clue what they will do to her if she doesn’t tell the truth, but she dreads what will happen when she does. 

Her mother’s eyes silently beg her to acquiesce and confess her guilt and accept whatever punishment the tribunal metes out, but she will not. She has a husband to get back to and get back to him she will, one way or another.

“Was I a prisoner of this family that I could not go out and explore what this world has to offer, grandfather? Am I incapable of making my own decisions?” Lucy barks back.

“You refused to come back to the family when called. That’s desertion. All those in agreement, raise your hands and say aye,” Nicholas instructs.

She watches as her entire family raises their hands and seals her guilt in with the simplest of assertions: aye. 

Having been found guilty of desertion, Nicholas moves on to the next three charges against her: accessory to murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and murder. He calls Emma Whitmore as the family’s next witness, who proceeds to recount the events in Salem (minus the parts where she initiated the attack and made her murder an innocent siren in the “arena”).

Lucy argues self-defense, but it basically comes down to her word against Emma’s, and it’s clear this farce has been preordained from its initiation. It doesn’t matter what she says in response to any of these charges. They will find her guilty of them all.

If they do kill her, her only solace will be that her husband will enact revenge upon them. He won’t be able to kill her entire family, but at least he’ll take a few of them with him on the way out. The less Rittenhouse members left wandering this Earth, the better.

Her prediction turns out to be accurate. She’s found guilty of all the charges leveled against her. Now, it’s time to find out her sentence. It’s sure to be something horrific, but if anything will get her through torture, it’s the prospect of seeing her husband one more time. 

Her great-grandfather, who has sat quietly throughout the entire tribunal, finally stands to render her punishment.

“I’m open to ideas, if anyone has one.”

Everyone stares at the patriarch in silence for a few beats, before the myriad of suggestions start flying. They range from public shaming, to slavery, to desiccation and execution. The members of the gallery, as well as her family, continue to debate her punishment when the patriarch orders silence.

“You,” he declares as he points straight at her. “You’re just as much of a disappointment as the rest of this lot; maybe, even more so. At least they had the courtesy to breed before they transitioned. What’s the matter? You think you’re too good to spread your legs? I had high hopes for you. It doesn’t matter now. You, belong to me. When I say jump, you ask how high. When I say kill our enemies, you attack. In the meantime, you will be coffined and buried until I decide otherwise,” Rittenhouse orders.

“No!” Carol cries out.

“Silence, woman! I will hear nothing further from you. Guards, escort my great-granddaughter back to her chambers until the coffin has been prepared.”

She had been prepared for a lot, but this…this is one of her worst nightmares. She hates small spaces. _Please hurry, Flynn. Please._


	31. The Threads of Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flynn and Amy reunite. Fei reminds Flynn what he’s fighting for. The team tries to come up with their plan of attack.

He’s pacing the abandoned warehouse they’ve commandeered as their new headquarters like a caged lion. He’s really hoping Jiya and Ernie arrive shortly, because he feels like they’re wasting time waiting for them and he hates wasting time. _Ironic, given he’s got all the time in the world as an immortal being._

As he makes another lap around the warehouse, he hears a car door shut outside.

“Seems like Jiya and Ernie have finally arrived!” Jess calls out from across the warehouse.

He’s about to respond that it looks like it, when he hears more than two pairs of footsteps.

“But, they’re not alone,” he growls.

He’s gonna kill the two of them if they brought someone outside the inner circle to their new secret lair. The location needs to stay secret or they won’t have a prayer against Rittenhouse. He knows one of the tagalongs is a vamp, since he can only hear three hearts beating as they approach the warehouse door. He also catches a whiff of what smells like wet dog.

He’s about ready to pounce, when he catches sight of her. The shock of seeing this young woman again after he relocated her, stops him dead in his tracks. He stuck his neck out for her, because he felt a sort of paternal instinct towards her. He’s never been able to explain it and perhaps he never will. Just the fact that she’s being hunted for simply existing, doesn’t sit right with him. She should have the same rights to live as any other living or undead creature has. 

Once the initial shock wears off, he finds “Bailey” standing in front of him, with her head tilted back to look him in the eyes. He knows that’s not her real name. He told her never to tell him what it was and he hopes she didn’t blurt it out to either Jiya or Ernie. If she did, she could potentially endanger them.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he bellows.

“What, no hug? Come here, you big lug!” Amy commands with a mischievous smile, before grabbing his shoulders and pulling her towards him.

She almost crushes his ribs with her bear hug. It still amazes him how someone so little can be so strong. His rational mind understands it’s a by-product of being a supernatural being, but it’s jarring to his visual senses.

“This is the least safest place for you to be. You should be half a world away,” he blurts out.

“About that,” Amy begins, as she weaves her arm under his and guides him towards the front door. “We need to talk…in private.”

The next thing he knows, he’s out in the parking lot of the warehouse, listening as the petite brunette begins to explain that she can’t allow him to take on Rittenhouse alone.

“This isn’t your fight, Bailey.”

The second the sentence leaves his mouth, he realizes how much of a moron he sounds like. She has more of a reason than any to go after Rittenhouse.

“I’m-I’m sorry. You have _every_ reason. I’m just…”

“Frazzled,” Amy answers for him.

He nods his head, then runs his hands through his hair.

“That’s understandable, given they have your wife. Oh, congratulations by the way,” she states with a smile.

He stops dead in his tracks when she brings up Lucy. He knows he didn’t tell her about his newlywed status, but can’t fathom why Jiya or Ernie would have mentioned it to her either.

“Thank you. You’re still dodging my question, though. _What_ , are you doing here?” he demands.

“I owe you one. Plus, my sister would never forgive me if I let you do this on your own.”

His head is spinning. None of this is making any sense and he’s not sure if it’s because his brain stopped working a while ago, or if Bailey’s completely lost her marbles. _Why would her sister care about any of this?_

“Bailey-”

“Amy. My name is Amy. Amy _Preston_.”

It takes his stunned brain a second or two to connect the dots, but once he does, he inhales sharply.

“It can’t be possible. How the…”

Amy approaches him and opens the golden locket around her neck to reveal two photos of herself and Lucy. Instinctively, his hand grasps the locket and he stares longingly at his beloved. _There’s just no way in hell this could be possible. Out of all the women in the world, he marries the hybrid’s sister?_

“What a small world after all,” he chuckles.

“We’re family now and family fights for family. I will not let my family torture my sister. Plus, I can provide knowledge and insight that no one else can,” Amy advises.

He nods his head and releases the locket from his hand. He can tell from the serious expression she’s wearing that there is no talking her out of this. He also knows they need all the help they can get, and her inside knowledge could be crucial to a victorious undertaking.

“I will gladly accept your help, Amy. However, if I may give you one piece of advice…don’t tell everyone what you are. The more people who know, the greater the danger for you. It might only be Rittenhouse hunting you today, but how long until another creature feels threatened enough to go after you? Just be cautious,” he warns.

She nods her head in assent and they stroll back through the parking lot to the warehouse. As they arrive inside, he notices that Jiya and Ernie are introducing the werewolf that Amy brought with her to the rest of the team.

“Who’s the mutt?” he jokingly asks.

“How do you know-”

“Because I could smell wet dog the second you opened the car door,” he answers.

“You must be Flynn,” the wolf states as he extends his hand. “The name’s Dave. Dave Baumgardner, but everyone calls me Bam Bam.”

“I don’t care,” he replies, as he turns and walks away.

“Flynn!” Amy chastises.

He ignores her and continues towards the small office in the back of the warehouse. He needs to be alone for a little bit. He’s breaking apart inside. Without his wife, he feels as if he’s in a rudderless boat adrift at sea. He also really, _really_ needs a feed. The thought of never being able to hold Lucy in his arms, or kiss her luscious lips ever again plays like an old VCR tape on a loop in his brain. He wants nothing more than to rip every Rittenhouse member limb from limb, but all this is doing is enraging him even more. It serves no productive purpose whatsoever. Yet, if he doesn’t let some of this anger out of him, it’ll only compound the difficulties this rag-tag team will face ahead of them. When he’s angry, he’s careless. Carelessness could get someone killed and that’s an unacceptable outcome.

He’s just about to start throwing some of the office supplies and machine parts that are strewn about the office, when he looks up and spies the tiny witch standing in the doorway.

“What do you want?” he growls.

Without hesitation, she strolls right up to him and pokes him hard in his chest.

“Come with me, mister,” she commands, as she grabs his large hand with both of hers.

He doesn’t even get the opportunity to argue with the young lady, before the room begins to spin. He knows he’s one-hundred percent stationary, because he hasn’t moved, and he’s positive that he’s not drunk either. _Why is the room spinning then?_

The edges of his vision begin to blur, then progressively turn into unrecognizable shapes, before a brilliant burst of white light flashes in front of him. He squints his eyes in a vain attempt to see what’s going on, but then his vision goes black. He can still feel Fei’s hands squeezing his, but he cannot see her.

Then suddenly, minuscule flickers of light come to life all around him. As the area begins to illuminate even further, he can see that the lights are strung together like pearls, but they are as fine as a spider’s silk.

“The threads of time,” Fei advises. “Beautiful and delicate, twisted and infinite. Yet, if you cut one, the consequences can be catastrophic.”

“Why are you showing me this?” he asks in confusion.

“You need to remember what you’re fighting for.”

He’s about to answer that he knows what he’s fighting for, when the air around him changes once more. Suddenly, he’s watching himself entering Lucy’s bar the night they first met.

“What made you want to stop there that night, Flynn?” Fei questions.

“I-I don’t know. It was almost as if a magnet was pulling me towards the bar, as if there was some sort of subliminal compulsion affecting me. Jiya said it wasn’t a spell to make me fall in love, yet that’s the reason that makes the most sense to me.”

They watch from the corner booth of the bar as his past-self meets Lucy.

“She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” he states in a half-whisper, as he gazes longingly at Lucy.

“That’s saying a lot considering how old you are,” Fei replies.

He nods his head in acknowledgement as he rises from his seat, and follows Lucy and his past-self towards the pool table. He attempts to reach out and caress her face, but his hand passes right through her.

He turns back to Fei in confusion and she explains that they are only spectators here.

“I thought you said you could timewalk.”

“I can. I can also astral project, which is what we’re doing now,” Fei explains.

“Take me back to that night. I need to touch her. _Please_ ,” he begs.

“I cannot. You can only go back to a time before you were born. Two selves cannot exist in the same time and space.”

The illusion ends a moment later and he’s back in the office of the warehouse once more. 

“Take me back. I want to go back,” he demands.

Fei informs him that they cannot, because the remainder of the Salem coven has finally arrived. 

“It was just to remind you what you’re fighting for, Flynn. Now, we must plan and then act,” Fei states with authority.

For such a young, tiny girl, she sure is bossy. _Reminds him of someone else he knows and loves._

They exit the office and rejoin the group in the main warehouse. He just hopes that someone else has come up with something, because he is drawing a blank.

After arguing for over an hour, the group is still no closer to coming up with a viable plan to rescue Lucy and destroy Rittenhouse. At this rate, another hundred years will pass before they ever agree on anything.

“You don’t understand,” Amy advises. “You need to hit Rittenhouse where it hurts. They don’t care if they lose men, as long as they aren’t the _family_. They care only about power, control and legacy.”

“In that particular order?” he asks, as he raises an eyebrow.

Amy nods in response and his wheels begin to turn.

“I know that look,” Rufus begins, “And, I hate it!”

“Why?” Jiya questions.

“Because it means he’s found some way to put us all in mortal danger,” Rufus replies.

“All of us are already in mortal danger if Rittenhouse remains in power,” Denise reminds them.

“So, how do we take away their power?” he asks, as he glances around the table.

Connor, who has been listening in via their coms, excitedly chimes in and explains they need to go after their money and influence by making it toxic to be associated with them.

“But, how do we do that?” Rufus questions.

“Leave that to me,” Connor replies giddily.

“What the hell is a drunk going to do?” Wyatt mocks.

“That _drunk_ ,” Rufus states, as he gets into Wyatt’s face, “is the best at manipulating the media and press in the entire world.”

“How else did you think I could afford to drink myself into oblivion?” Connor laughs, before he hangs up on the other end.

“Okay, that takes care of power. Now, what about their control?” he inquires.

“The fact that all of us are here, _together_ , means they’ve already lost it,” Amy announces.

“And, their legacy?” Rufus asks.

“We kill them all,” Denise states forcefully. “Except for Lucy, of course,” she quickly adds.

He glances over at Amy, who peers back at him with nothing but concern written over her face. He’s been around long enough to know that even if Denise doesn’t think Lucy is a threat, that doesn’t mean the other creatures don’t. He’s definitely going to have to keep his eyes out for anyone going rogue. Because, if someone does kill her because of her bloodline, there will be nowhere on this Earth they will be able to hide from him; that is, if Amy doesn’t get to them first.

Within three hours, Connor has managed to freeze multiple Rittenhouse corporate and personal accounts, as well as create a viral frenzy surrounding the unethical research being conducted at the lab. Multiple people, including Alice Paul and Fei, have given testimonials, which Connor has distributed to local and national media and bombarded the internet with. Now that the pack of wolves, otherwise known as the press, is on the case, the wheels have been set in motion and there’s no turning back now.


End file.
